Date: ____________________ Team: ______________________________
Practice Plan with focus on TRANSITIONS
Created by Jim Stone
Suggested Time: 150 minutes
Click here to watch the videos that correspond with this practice plan
on the Art of Coaching Volleyball website
Goals of Practice
• Work on incorporating foot movement into warmup and drills
• Work on transition from dig to attack and cover hitter to attack
• Continue daily work on Serve and Pass
• Side out and transition work in 6 vs. 6 environment
General Practice Philosophy
• Lots of foot movement that is incorporated into skills (shuffle, run, change of direction, etc.)
• Tempo of practice varies from high intensity to lower intensity back to higher intensity
• Repetition is key to skill development
• Not a lot of stopping to talk. If player needs feedback or correction of skill, take aside while drill continues
Drills
• Progressive shuttle drill warm-up – Bill Neville
• Dig tip drill – Mark Barnard
• 4 vs 4 kamikaze drill – Beth Launiere
• 5 before 3 serve-pass drill – Michael Seemann
• Coach on a box drill – Doug Reimer
• Penn State coverage drill – Russ Rose
• Side and deep serve – John Dunning
• Xena warrior drill – Karch Kiraly
Post Practice
• Since the focus was transition, keep dig to swing hitting stats for the day then post for player feedback
• Video review of transition attack approaches, since that is a major fault with low hitting percentages on transition
• As always, there is a focus on the serve and pass skills. How was performance? Do specific players need extra work?
• Performance goals for tomorrow. To impact performance, in this case transition attack, it is beneficial to come back and
make it a priority several consecutive days. This will provide players with opportunities to improve in this specific area.
• Performance goals for tomorrow might be:
o Improvement in attack efficiency in a transition situation
o Monitor balls covered off the block
o Video of transition approaches for areas of improvement
Notes
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Date: ____________________ Team: ___________________________________
Progressive shuttle drill warm-up (Bill Neville)
Coaching notes
1) Get team into groups of four – 2 players on the baseline,
2 players on the 10ft line -perpendicular to the net • Make sure players move quickly at all
2) The ball moves back and forth between the players on times
the baseline and 10ft line • Focus on skill execution
3) After a player contacts the ball, s(he) follows the ball and • You can add variety, emphasizing a low
gets in the opposite line posture when passing, or setting a high
4) Progression of skills (about 90 sec for each skill): or low ball, passing outside body line,
overhead passing, forearm passing, jump-setting, and etc.
bump to oneself, then back-set to partner
5) Competition: groups complete to get 30 in a row of
each skill in a 4 minute time window
Dig tip drill (Mark Barnard)
Coaching notes
1) Get team into groups of four – 2 players on either side of
the net, only on half of the court • Since transition is a focus of the practice,
2) 1 player on the net, 1 player on the 10ft line (both sides) this drill will get players moving and
3) Player on the 10ft line contacts the ball twice. S(he) (A) thinking about transition approaches
passes to herself, then (B) sets the player on the net after blocking
4) Player on the net (C) transitions and tips to the opposite • Controlled drill that completes warm-up
10ft line player (net player blocks)
5) Blocking player transitions to tip while player on the 10ft
line passes and sets.
6) After the player on the net tips, the two switch positions.
4 v 4 kamikaze drill (Beth Launiere)
Coaching notes
1) 4 on 4, one side is the winning side and one side is the
challenge side
• This competitive drill will pick up the
2) Coach must create a box in zone 6 (middle back of the
tempo of practice and incorporates
court) where hitters cannot hit
attack, set, defense and blocking
3) Balls are entered to the challenge side and the point is
• Change scoring as needed (point
played out like normal volleyball
reduction for errors, play by time, points
4) The first team to two points wins one big point
for block, etc.)
a. If challenge team wins, they move to winning side
• Transition was a focus of this session, so
b. If winning team wins, they remain
extra attention to transition attack
5) Play to five big points
approaches
5 before 3 serve-pass drill (Michael Seemann)
Coaching notes
1) Side one: 3 passers and a setter on the net (extra passers
on the end line ready to switch in) • As the previous drill was a high intensity
2) Side two: line of servers defensive and transition drill, this will drill
3) Passers get points for “3” passes and serving errors. will allow recovery while focusing on two
Servers get points for aces and “1” and “2” passes mental and technical skills
a. Setters can wash a “2” pass with a good • You can eliminate the wash component
outside/right side set which will allow a point to be scored each
b. Passers try to get 5 points before servers get 3 serve
points • Consider initiate the serve with a whistle,
since that is more game like and will
encourage the server having a routine
each time
1
Date: ____________________ Team: ___________________________________
Coach on a box drill (Doug Reimer) Coaching notes
• Focus is on dig to swing, but the drill can
1) Team of six on one side, on the other side is a coach on
focus on multiple situations
the box with five players in other positions
• Have multiple boxes so coach can move
2) Coach on the box can:
along net creating different points of
a. Hit at the middle on the opposite side
attack
b. Toss the ball as a set to his/her pin hitters
c. Turn around and tip/hit at his/her backrow who • Can work in criteria for success (+5
will set an out of system ball successful dig to attack, for example
Penn State coverage drill (Russ Rose) Coaching notes
1) Regular 6 v 6 game • Moving toward 6 vs 6 focus
2) One team receives 3 balls in a row (1st from a serve, 2nd • Keep talk to minimum so as not to slow
and 3rd as a downball from a coach) the drill
3) Scoring: • Make sure players are talking and taking
a. Receiving team gets 2 big points if it wins all 3 responsibility for covering the blocked
points ball, then getting a transition swing
b. Receiving team gets 1 big point if it wins 2/3
points
c. Non-receiving team gets 1 big point if it wins 2/3
points
4) Bonus points:
a. Receive team gets a big point from a covered
block
b. Non-receive team gets a big point from a block
Side and deep serve (John Dunning) Coaching notes
1) Players split on both halves to serve (they must shag • After high intensity 6 vs. 6 drill, this will
their own ball after each serve) allow recovery while getting in quality
2) A coach stands 5 feet from the end line and 5 feet from serve contacts with a focus on serve
one sideline on both sides of the net accuracy
3) Scoring: • As with any serve drill, you can
a. 2 points: serve that lands in front of the 10ft line, incorporate a passer without changing
between the coach and the sideline, or between the scoring. This will allow passers to get
the coach and the end line contacts while the servers are getting
b. 4 points: serve that lands between the coach and contacts
the sideline AND between the coach and the end
line
c. 5 points: serve that hits the coach
Xena warrior drill (Karch Kiraly) Coaching notes
1) Regular 6 v 6 game with the starting score tied at 22-22 • Last drill for this session. Work on team
2) When one team wins, they must win an additional point systems on both sides of the net
to lock it in (determined by coach beforehand). • Can adjust scoring as needed (serve two
Examples: in a row to get one point, extra point for
a. Out of system left side attack dig to swing since that is focus of
b. Middle hitter hitting slide practice)
3) The player who makes the play is called the Xena • Lock in point, must defend an opponent
Warrior. If the Xena Warrior doesn’t score, then the game attack, transition score
is washed.
