Volleyball for seniors: playing and training over 50

Volleyball for seniors is simply volleyball, with a few smart adjustments. This article is for players and for clubs: which formats exist, what changes in your body after 50, and what a practice looks like that suits a body of fifty, sixty or seventy.

Can you still play volleyball after 50?

Yes. Volleyball is a sport without physical contact with the opponent, a rally usually lasts only a few seconds, and in a recreational group you largely decide how hard you go. Then there is the team: people who play with the same group every week keep showing up, in winter too. That makes volleyball a sport you can keep up for a long time, even if you only pick it up later in life. How to start as an adult is covered in starting volleyball as an adult.

One evening of volleyball is not a complete week of activity, though. The WHO advises adults, including those over 65, to do 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity per week, plus muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days. For people over 65 it adds a varied mix with an emphasis on balance and strength on at least three days a week, to prevent falls (WHO guidelines on physical activity, 2020). Volleyball counts, but walking, cycling and a short strength routine at home complete the week.

If you have not been active for a long time, if you have heart or vascular disease or diabetes, or if you get chest pain, dizziness or unusual shortness of breath during exercise, talk to your doctor or a sports physician before you start.

What kinds of volleyball are there for seniors?

You don't have to choose between a regular league and nothing. These are the formats you come across in clubs and in care settings:

A few notes. Whether the net is lower in a masters category differs by competition: check the rules of your own federation. There is no international rulebook for volleyball without jumping, also called walking volleyball; clubs that offer it make their own agreements on net height, the ball and what counts as a jump. Sitting volleyball is a Paralympic sport with its own rules, and in many countries people without a disability also play it recreationally. It spares the legs but asks a lot of the shoulders and wrists, and you need to be able to get up from the floor easily; the rules are in sitting volleyball explained. With a light, large ball, volleyball is played as a format of its own in some countries, such as soft volleyball in Japan, four against four on a badminton court.

What changes in your body after 50?

What follows is general knowledge about aging and sport, not a diagnosis or treatment advice. It does help to understand why the same practice lands differently at fifty-five than at twenty-five.

• Muscle strength and jumping power decline. Without strength training you gradually lose muscle mass, and the fast, explosive power you need for a jump declines sooner than your endurance.
• Tendons get stiffer and recover more slowly. The Achilles tendon and the calf have a hard time with an explosive take-off, especially after a period without sport. A sudden snap in the calf or heel is a well-known injury in middle-aged athletes.
• Recovery takes longer. Muscle soreness comes later and lasts longer. Two hard sessions on consecutive days often turn out badly.
• Shoulders have less reserve. The tendons around the shoulder joint wear with the years, and dozens of hard swings in one evening add up.
• A fall weighs more heavily. With less balance and, for some, osteoporosis, a fall when diving is riskier than it used to be. If you know you have osteoporosis, ask your doctor what is sensible.

The best-known acute injury in volleyball is an ankle that rolls on landing, often on someone else's foot at the net. Knees and shoulders also get overloaded. That applies at every age; how to prevent it is in injury prevention in volleyball. If you have pain that persists, swells or comes back every practice, see your doctor, a sports physician or a physiotherapist, and don't play through pain.

How to train volleyball after 50

1. A fifteen-minute warm-up. Start with movement without the ball, then ball contact, and only at the end jumps that build up: small ones first, then half, then a few full ones. The first hard attack comes after that.
2. Jumping in the first half. Put blocking and attacking drills early, while everyone is still fresh. Tired jumping leads to sloppy landings.
3. Count the jumps. Agree on a number of attacks per drill instead of a time. That way nobody keeps going until something goes wrong.
4. Land on two feet. With the knees slightly bent and over the toes, and never with one foot under the net.
5. Only dive and roll if you have learned how. Agree in the group that letting a ball go is fine. That prevents more injuries than any other rule.
6. Build up after a break. Anyone who was away for three weeks because of holidays or illness plays along the first evening without jumping all out.
7. Strength and balance on other days. A few exercises at home, two or three times a week: rising onto your toes and lowering slowly, standing up from a chair without using your hands, a lunge, standing on one leg, and rotating the shoulder outward with a resistance band.

Setting up an over-50s group at your club

A club that wants to bring in a group of older players starts with the time slot. Gyms are often free during the day and early in the evening, and many people over 50 don't want to be playing at ten at night. A fixed morning or an early evening with coffee afterwards attracts a different group than a late practice.

In terms of content, such a group resembles a regular recreational group: changing attendance, different levels, and people who come for the game and the company. The structure with short games on half a court from volleyball drills for recreational players works just as well here, with fewer jumps and more rest between the games. A four-on-four game on half a court gives a lot of ball contact and little running.

The coach doesn't have to be a former international, but does need to be able to dose the load and keep everyone in the same game. If you are standing in front of such a group for the first time, starting as a volleyball coach gives you the basics. And ask your federation whether there is a masters league or veterans tournaments: for part of the group, a match against people their own age is exactly the reason to keep training.

Tracking attendance for an older group

With an older group, attendance has a second purpose. You don't only want to know whether you need half a court or a full one, but also who is coming back after a few weeks away, because you build that player up gently on the first evening. In Koach players sign up or cancel for each practice, and afterwards you check off who was Present, Late or Absent. In a player's profile you see their recent practices under History, so you can tell at a glance who was away for a long time. With Recurring trainings you put the fixed morning in the calendar for the whole season in one go.

What Koach costs after the 14 free days is on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

Volleyball drills for recreational players: fun without slack How to start playing volleyball as an adult: where to begin Injury prevention in volleyball: ankles, knees and shoulders

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