Volleyball Digging Drills: Getting Defenders Low and Early
Digging is the one volleyball skill where you do not know what is coming. Which is exactly why almost everybody trains it wrong: with tossed balls to a fixed spot, when the match is about reading and being stopped on time.
The stance everything starts from
A defender who stands too tall never gets down in time; a defender who is moving at the moment of the swing never gets to the right spot. Three checkpoints:
- Low and wide. Feet slightly wider than the shoulders, knees well over the toes, chest above the knees. Weight on the front of the foot, heels nearly off the floor.
- Hands loose and low. The arms hang loose in front of the body, not clasped together. Anyone who has already built their platform before the ball arrives cannot move left or right any more.
- Stopped at the swing. At the moment the hitter contacts the ball, the defender is standing still. All the movement happens before that.
That last point is the heart of it. A defender still in motion when the ball is struck can only react in the direction they were already going. It is also the easiest thing for a coach to see: stand behind the defender and check whether both feet are on the floor at the moment of the swing.
Drills 1 and 2: without a hitter
1. Reaction triangle (8 min). Three players: one thrower, one defender, one catcher. The thrower stands four meters away and throws hard to the left, the right and short — randomly, with no announcement. The defender digs playable to the catcher. Fifteen balls, then rotate. Scoring: how many of the fifteen the catcher can take without moving. Correction: building the platform too early.
2. Movement ladder (7 min). The defender starts at position 6, the coach calls a position (1, 5 or 6) and immediately throws a ball there. The player has to arrive stopped. Twelve balls per set, two sets. Trains the part that most often goes missing in matches: being in the right place on time, not the contact itself.
Drills 3 and 4: with a live hitter
3. Digging behind the block (15 min). Two blockers close one fixed angle, a hitter swings from position 4 into the space that is left, two defenders stand at 6 and 1. Scoring: five dug balls that land playable in the front zone, then rotate. Correction: defenders who stand behind the block instead of in the open angle. Where exactly you should stand depends on your system — see defensive systems.
4. Hard, tip or deep (15 min). The same setup, but now the hitter chooses freely between a hard swing, a tip just behind the block and a deep ball to the end line. The defender may not move until the hitter's arm comes forward. Why: this is the only drill in which reading is genuinely trained, and reading is what separates a defender in a match. The attacking side's tricks are in tips and roll shots.
Drill 5: teaching the sprawl and the pancake
5. Floor technique in sets (10 min). Teach the sprawl (diving forward with the chest towards the floor, arms to the ball) and the pancake (the flat hand slid under the ball on the floor) separately, first without a ball. A set: ten sprawls from the defensive stance without a ball, then ten with a short tossed ball. Important: teach getting up first. A player who stays on the floor after the dive is out of the rally.
Two safety rules. First: build up in numbers, not in height. Five good sprawls beat twenty where the last ten land on elbows and knees. Second: do this on a clean floor with dry hands, and never as the first drill of the evening. The technique behind it is in digging and diving.
Making it harder and easier
- Harder: hitter closer to the net, give the defender a bigger zone, drop the announcement, or require the dug ball to land within three meters of the net.
- Easier: a toss instead of a swing, a fixed direction, a smaller zone per defender, or lower the requirement to "the ball stays in the court".
- More match-like: let the dug ball be played out into an attack. Digging without a follow-up is only half the skill — the follow-up is in transition drills.
Count touches, not just perfect digs. A ball that comes up and stays playable is worth gold in a match, even if it does not land neatly at the setter. A coach who only rewards perfect digs teaches players to avoid risk.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my defender always late?
Usually because they are still moving at the moment the hitter swings. Have them finish the movement before contact and be stopped with the weight on the front of the foot; then they can still go either way.
At what age do you teach diving and pancakes?
From around twelve or thirteen, and then step by step: floor technique without a ball on a soft surface first, then with tossed balls. Starting too early mostly produces floor burns and fear.
How do I train defence without hitters who can swing hard?
Hit from a box or a stack of mats yourself, or have players throw hard from the three-meter line. More important than the speed is that the direction is unpredictable — that is what makes digging difficult.
