The Art of Coaching Volleyball

Teaching children advocacy is an important part of helping them succeed in sports By Priscilla Tallman If your child has played youth sports for any number of years, you know there comes a time when coaches need to find various consequences (usually unfavorable) to correct poor performance, attitude or other things that need to be […]

    Jim Stone, head coach of the U.S. girls’ youth national team, offers coaching advice here on serving and passing, especially at the younger levels of the game. One of Stone's first priorities is to change a coach's mentality when it comes to serving – from a serve-it-in mentality to a use-your-serve-as-a-weapon mentality. He […]

    You always want to avoid giving the other team a free ball, but when you have no choice, where should you put it? In this video, 949 Athletics coach Cary Wendell Wallin and 2 of her senior club players, Claire Quick and Emilie Austin, offer 2 suggestions.

    Tom Shoji, head women’s volleyball coach at Willamette University, talks here about what life is like in Division III volleyball. In his view, the players at the Division III level are very competitive and have a high skill level. But there is also a life balance and time away from the gym where […]

    Georgia coach Lizzy Stemke works on weight transfer, movement, conditioning, footwork, hand position and location in this catch-all setting drill. To run the drill, a setter starts off the net between two players who function as cones and stand stock still for the entire drill. She sets the ball to target, circles around […]

    Tom Shoji, head coach at Willamette University, demonstrates a 6-on-6 drill here that requires his team to win multiple rallies in a row. For team “X” to score a point, it must win 4 rallies in a row (a serve, free ball, down ball and another serve) and must do this twice to […]

Components of Setting Technique & Setting Tools Article 4 will be the final article in the Critical Analysis of Setting Series.  It will identify and examine four of the common setting components that many experienced international setters use to deliver their sets.  The primary focus of the photo sequences and videos will be to illustrate […]

    Over the course of a season, one of a team's main goals should be to develop an increasingly better connection between attackers and setters on all sets. In this practice, Stanford runs a series of hitting reps where middles, outside hitters and opposites are repeatedly fed different sets – ones, three, huts, etc. […]

Printable version here   Parent volunteer positions/agreement At ­­­­­­­­­­____________ club we believe the active inclusion of our parent group through various volunteer opportunities at the team and club levels helps ensure a successful and enjoyable season for all involved. We also believe this commitment will contribute to the longevity of the club, so we see […]

    Lizzy Stemke—head coach at the University of Georgia—works on defensive posture in this appropriately titled drill. According to Lizzy Stemke—head coach at the University of Georgia—good defensive posture includes shoulders in front of knees, bellybutton behind the ball, hips under the ball, shoulders rounded and arms at a good angle. To work on […]

Not long after each season ends, Stanford players and coaches begin focusing on how they can get better for the next season. In this video, Stanford Coach John Dunning highlights several keys to mapping out and executing an improvement plan that will help your players make good progress in offseason or preseason training. Among them: […]

Michigan coach Mark Rosen talks here about creating depth, and he makes a point of saying he doesn't buy into the one-mistake-and-you're-out philosophy. His view is that building confidence in your players, whether they start or come off the bench, involves letting them work through some mistakes so they're not "looking over their shoulders" and […]

Using a simple piece of a elastic as a marker, Pocatello Elite Coach Chris Werner runs this transition-hitting drill to train his middles to see the ball better and to make their attack jump with the right amount of space between themselves and the setter. It works this way: A middle and a setter line […]

  The back-row attack drill you’ll see here is fun and competitive. Three passers receive serve, and player who makes the pass gets the set. Two boxes are set up on the other side of the court as targets. The hitter can either swing away at the deep box or tip at the box that’s […]

Working with two of his passers, North Carolina coach Joe Sagula talks in this video about why it’s so important in volleyball to keep the arms wide when readying for a dig or a pass. As he points out, it takes patience. But the payoff is that you’re less likely to swing your arms and […]