Volleyball drill videos, diagrams or animations: what works?

Volleyball drill videos are only one way to learn a new drill. You will also find drills as diagrams and as animations, and each of the three is good at something different. One shows technique, one shows the setup, one shows the sequence. Here is what to use for what, where to find drills for free, and what Koach does and does not offer.

Volleyball drill videos, diagrams or animations: what to look for

Explaining a drill eats into time you would rather spend playing. The faster your group gets the point, the sooner the first ball goes over the net. Whether a video, a diagram or an animation helps you depends on what you want to show. Look at five things:

• The organization. Where does everyone stand, where are the balls, and where does a player go once they are done?
• The sequence. What happens first, who moves next, and how does the next rep start?
• The technique. What does a good pass, set or approach look like, at real speed?
• The group. Does the drill fit your number of players, their level and the equipment you have? A drill for twelve players is no help when six show up.
• Finding it again. A good drill you cannot find when you are planning practice is a drill you never use.

No single format does all five equally well. So the question is not which format wins, but which one you use for what.

What drill videos do well, and where they fall short

Video is at its best when it comes to technique. You see how a setter gets under the ball, where the hands are on a set and how fast an approach really is. For players who do not yet know what a movement looks like, a few seconds of footage beat a paragraph of explanation. A video also shows tempo: how quickly the balls follow each other and how much rest there is between two reps.

For the organization of a drill, video is less useful. The camera often sits on the sideline, players cross in front of each other, and the pattern only becomes clear after a few reps. Want to see one moment again? Then you are scrubbing a timeline with your thumb. The players on screen are rarely your players, either: a different level, a different age, sometimes an explanation in another language. And to play it in the gym, you usually need an internet connection.

Free drill videos are mostly on YouTube, posted by governing bodies, clubs and coaches. Quality varies: one is calmly filmed with a clear explanation, the next is a match clip with a title slapped on top. There are also platforms built around video drill libraries. VolleyballXL lists more than 600 volleyball drills on video plus ready-made practices in its Google Play listing, used with an account on its website (checked in October 2026). If what you mainly want is a lot of video, you are better off there than with Koach. How a library like that compares with an app for your whole team is covered in video drill libraries versus a team app.

What a diagram does well

A diagram is the fastest to read. One glance and you see where the lines are, where the coach tosses from and which way the ball travels. You print it, put it on the bench and need no screen or battery. That is why drill books and coaching manuals are full of diagrams.

Its weakness is time. A diagram is a single moment, while a drill is a sequence of movements. All the arrows are on the court at once, and working out which one comes first is up to you. If you use someone else's diagram, you do that decoding at home, or in the gym with a group standing around waiting. Why a binder full of diagrams so often ends up in a drawer is explained in volleyball drills as a PDF.

What an animation adds: the sequence

An animation sits between the two. It is a diagram that moves: the same circles on a schematic court, but now phase by phase. First everyone is in position, then the coach tosses, then the first player passes, then the line rotates. You see the order without numbering arrows, and because nothing else is on screen, everyone is looking at the same thing.

An animation in phases has one more advantage over video: you can stop at exactly the moment you want to talk about. Step back to phase three, point to where the passer should be standing and carry on. It is what you would otherwise do with a marker on a whiteboard, minus the drawing.

What an animation does not do is show technique. A circle on a court has no arms, so it will not teach anyone what a forearm pass looks like. For that you need a video, or better still, you demonstrate it once yourself. A split that works: the animation for the organization, and you or a video for the technique.

Video, diagram and animation side by side

Where to find free animated volleyball drills

Our website has 200 volleyball drills with animation, free and with no account, in English, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish. They are the same drills as in the Koach app. Every drill has its own page with:

• An animation for every phase. Play it or step through it phase by phase, with a short line at each phase explaining what happens.
• The key facts. The number of players, the number of phases, the duration and the equipment you need.
• Coaching points. What to watch for while the drill is running, with the reason behind each one.
• Variations. At least one easier and one harder version, for when the drill does not fit your group.

On the overview page you filter by category, from warm-up, passing and serving to blocking, defense and match play, and by group size: 1 to 2 players, 3 to 5, 6 to 8, or 9 players or more. A few taps and you have a drill for the number of players you actually have.

How Koach shows drills: an animation, not a video

We make Koach, so read this part as the maker's explanation. In the app, the same 200 drills sit in your team's exercise library. Show Koach exercises turns them on or off. Switch on Sort by present players, set how many players are there, and the list opens with the section Exactly enough. How to add your own drills alongside them and use them in a practice is covered in the volleyball drill app.

Tap a drill and you see it on a schematic court. The play button runs through the phases one after another, and with Previous and Next you step through them yourself, with the line for each phase shown below the court. That way you can show your group on your phone or tablet what the plan is before you toss the first ball. In a practice plan you add it as a block with Add exercise, and Make variation creates your own copy that you can adapt to your group.

If the drill you are looking for is not there, you draw it yourself, also in phases: the arrows appear automatically between two phases. What that gives you compared with paper and PowerPoint is explained in drawing a volleyball drill.

Sending a drill to your players, without video

A clip goes into the team group chat, and then you hope someone opens it. Koach works differently. With Assign as homework you choose which players will work on a drill at home. They see it on their own dashboard under Homework, with the line Assigned by your coach to practise at home. When they tap it, they see the same animation you do. The player account is free. How to get the most out of this is covered in giving players homework.

If your players do not have an account (yet) and it is one of the 200 Koach drills, simply share the link to that drill on the website: those pages are open to everyone. Your own drills and variations are not on the website.

What Koach does not do

Koach has no videos. There are no drill clips in it, you do not film your team in the app, and an animation does not turn into a video file. If you want to show technique at real speed, use a video from another source or demonstrate it yourself. If you want to post an animated drill as a clip in your team chat, Volleyball Coach by Bart Lamberigts is a better fit: according to Google Play, it lets you share animated drills as video (checked in October 2026). We only found that app on Google Play; we did not find it in the App Store (searched in Belgium).

Which format suits which coach?

• You coach a youth team or beginners. Players who do not know a drill yet get the most out of an animation beforehand and a demonstration from you. A video of elite players shows where they are heading, but not where your group should stand tonight.
• You mainly want to improve technique. Then video is your main tool, ideally played in slow motion. Koach will not help you there.
• You want to plan your practices in an app. Then it helps when the drill lives in the same place as your practice plan and your attendance. That is what Koach is built for. How a full practice fits together is covered in running a volleyball practice.
• You look for a new drill now and then. Then you do not need an app: the drill pages on the website are free.

What does it cost?

The 200 drills on the website cost nothing and need no account. You can try the app free for 14 days, with no credit card and every feature included. After that you choose Coach for €2.99 per month (1 team, 2 coaches) or Club for €9.99 per month (unlimited teams). With a yearly plan you pay €2.49 or €8.33 per month. In the App Store and on Google Play you see the price in your own currency. All prices are on the pricing page.

Sources: VolleyballXL on Google Play and Volleyball Coach on Google Play, checked in October 2026. Features can change; check them yourself before you choose.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

Drill app for volleyball: your own drill library in your pocket Volleyball drill designer: paper, PowerPoint or an app? Volleyball drills PDF: why that free collection never gets used

Browse 200 volleyball drills with animations Download a complete practice plan of 8 to 28 weeks