The Art of Coaching Volleyball

  When dealing with your players approach, focus on three main things to increase their speed and help in their approach: Slow to fast Small to long Stay off the net

  Clinician: Debbie Brown Watch this pepper variation from Debbie Brown where players are ready to defend the ball before transitioning outside to make their swing!

  In Mike Sealy's gym, the libero takes the second ball. The goal: put up a hittable ball that the offense can use to put pressure on the other team. With that in mind, your libero has to be good at a few things: over hand setting, bump-setting, and much more!

  One way Bishop’s High School coach Tod Mattox determines whether his passers are detecting the serve early enough is watching how they react to a ball served into the net. He explains here, then serves his libero, Paris Winkler, a mixture of serves – some over the net, some into the net.

Developing a good setting touch at an early age is an important aspect of acquiring a well-rounded skill set. Here, former NCAA Player of the Year Cary Wendell Wallin, who is the Director of Player Development at 949 Athletics in Orange County, California, works with a group of 10-year-olds on several key setting fundamentals, including: […]

  Clinician: Joe Sagula During his blocking fundamentals session at the 2017 Chapel Hill Caoching Clinic, Joe Sagula and his team demonstrated the Triple Block Drill to work on one on one blocking with your players.

In this drill, UCLA coach Mike Sealy wants attackers to hit precise balls to the sides and corners of the court outside of the "no fly zone." This helps hitters control the location of their hit rather than just swinging randomly.    

    The target area for the passer in most volleyball offenses is about midway between the center point on the net and the right antenna. A variation that U.S. girls' youth national team coach Jim Stone explains here is shifting the target to the center of the net. Jim compares the 2 strategies, covering […]

  Here's a fun variation of "strikeout" — a queen's court 3-on-3 back-row attack game. To run this drill, the coach must have a stopwatch with a set timer going and create parameters for the whole team while they compete in queen's court. If any player doesn't follow the parameters set by the coach, the […]

  Russ Rose uses stats to identify the best way to defeat another team, but most coaches have limited access to stats! So here are a few simple ways to gain information during warm-ups and during the match to learn your opponent's tendencies and make sure you are prepared.

Jaimee Rindy | Middle blocker at Coe College, juniors’ club coach I’ve been a middle blocker my entire volleyball career. I tried other positions – I definitely think it’s helpful to experience a different role – but I always went back to playing middle. It wasn’t because that’s where I was placed when I first […]

  Clinicians: Terry Liskevych, Laurie Eisler, Glenn Hoag, Pete Hanson, John Dunning Check out this coaches panel from the 2017 Calgary Clinic where the clinicians discussed what they believe are the principles of being a great coach including: critical reflection, utilizing technology and more!

  University of San Diego coach Brent Hilliard, a former Olympian and NCAA Player of the Year at Long Beach State, pulled aside freshman OH Jenny Lauber after a recent practice and gave her a quick clinic on hitting with more power. Art of Coaching was there to document it and asked Hilliard about it […]

The purpose of this "rolled ball" drill from Rice University's Genny Volpe is to warm up your players and get their feet moving on defense. How it works: a coach at the net rolls balls towards a defending player in middle back. The player needs to hustle to roll back (or just touch) 10 balls […]

  Clinician: Holly McPeak Hear what Holly McPeak has to say about your beach players first move off the net after they have touched the ball on the block both when it is on your strong side and weak side.