The Art of Coaching Volleyball

    We all know how important it is to execute in Game 5. Strong serving and attacking set the tone. Players must take risks AND be good. The pressure-packed 6-on-6 drill you'll see here, introduced by Stanford women's coach John Dunning, emphasizes both of those skills and recreates the tension of a Game 5. […]

John Dunning demonstrates a drill that works on training a player's depth perception. In this drill, a player must call out where they believe the ball will land when it is played: short if it is in front of them, deep if it is behind them and their name if it is coming to them. […]

Ruth Nelson talks about serving and hitting at all different age levels and the commonalities they share. If you liked this post, check out Ruth's Bring Your Own Parent Course available here! http://www.theartofcoachingvolleyball.com/product/bring-your-own-parent-byop-101/

    To join any national volleyball team, you need passion. In this video Cilene Drewnick, #1 libero in UEAFA Champions League from 1999-2000, describes what drove her and fueled her passion when she was younger and dreaming of being a part of Brazil's national team.

    Defense is critically important in volleyball. To devise a system that suits your particular team, you must assess your players’ depth of skill and determine how it compares to the opposition's. You can then use this information to train your team accordingly. In this video, Michigan State coach Cathy George provides detailed instruction […]

    During the first half of her head coaching career, Iowa State coach Christy Johnson-Lynch recognized the importance of serving and amped up her approach to training the skill accordingly. Now, her team finds ways to score from the end line even without girls ripping jump topspin serves. To hear how she incorporates serving […]

    Coley Pawlikowski, women’s volleyball coach at Stony Brook University, talks here about incorporating committees into your team environment. Among the points she covers are the importance of ownership and belonging, role development and areas for improvement.

In this drill, Georgia Tech head coach Michelle Collier has players hold brightly-colored balls on one side of the net, while blockers on the other side work to touch the balls while blocking. The ball helps give the blockers a visual of where to line their bodies and hands up when blocking. To change it […]

Pro beach volleyball player Todd Rogers, who will retire at the end of this season, was honored July 17 at the Manhattan Beach Open for a career that produced an Olympic gold medal, 80 victories and a well-deserved reputation as one of the greatest players of his generation. Rogers, 42, isn’t walking away from the […]

    The “2-ball wash” drill teaches setters and hitters to take advantage of smaller outside blockers. For setters, that means strategically placing balls to the outside. For hitters, it means attacking high over an undersized blocker.

    Learning to “work the plant” can increase a hitter’s power. This technique allows players to get their bodies into the right position to hit specific shots with maximum force. In this video, Stanford coach John Dunning demonstrates a drill that teaches players how to hit a variety of shots by adjusting their hitting […]

    The first priority in the middle activation drill, introduced by Bishop’s High coach Tod Mattox, is to get kills in the middle. Once a middle puts the ball down, the offensive team is activated, which means they get unlimited free balls until the other team stops them. Once the team is activated, kills […]

  We posed that question to Andrea Becker, a professor of sports psychology at Cal State Fullerton who is currently on an extended sabbatical and working as an assistant coach for the UCLA men’s volleyball team and consulting for the USA men’s national team. She had an interesting take. She said there’s an important distinction […]

    Coaches who seek drills that don’t address their team’s specific needs are missing the point. Instead, coaches should design drills that address their team’s weaknesses, says University of Michigan coach Mark Rosen. In this video, you’ll learn how he and his coaching staff develop game-like drills that promote team improvement.

In this drill used by Cathy George, players run the chance of losing points they have earned or have the ability to steal points their opponent has earned in this competitive 6-on-6 format. Players fight for points in five consecutive rallies and the winners point total becomes the reward for the following rally. The advantage […]