Around the court with a tap ball

Jogging a loop around the court with two balls being tapped from player to player. The running tempo is low, the ball tempo is not: players have to keep their eyes up while they jog along. That gets you a warm-up and ball feel in the same five minutes.

11 players 7 phases ± 10 min 2 balls, the space around the court From U13 upwards

Phase 1 of 7Eleven players in a big loop around the court; two balls in play

Players in the loop Ball

This animation comes straight out of the Koach app. In the app you play it at your own pace and the positions carry your players' real names.

Open in the app

How the drill runs

What you are training

Warm-up: eleven players jog a loop around the court and tap the ball on to the next in line each time.

Taking a ball and playing it on while you are moving yourself.
Two balls in play at once: knowing where the other one is without looking around.
Easy aerobic running with a technical task laid over the top of it.

Coaching points

Play the ball forward, into the path of the player next to you.

A ball that lands behind somebody breaks the loop. Playing ahead of a moving player is the same habit you need for a setter running in from the back.

Keep running through the contact.

Stopping to make it look neat turns the loop into a traffic jam. The whole point of this drill is playing while the feet keep going.

Keep the gaps between players even.

As soon as gaps open up there is no ball left to pass on and the drill falls apart. Let the group sort that out themselves and you do not have to steer it.

Start the two balls on opposite sides of the loop.

Start them close together and they catch each other up, leaving half the loop with no ball at all. Keep them apart and everybody stays involved.

Variations

Easier: One ball, and throw and catch instead of tapping.
Harder: Three balls, overhead only, or reverse the running direction on a signal while the balls stay in play.
With six players: A smaller loop inside the court and one ball, otherwise the distances are too big to keep playing it on.
As a game: How many complete laps do the two balls make together in four minutes. Every ball that drops costs a lap.

Volleyball drills

4 players · 6 phases SafeVolley base round Warm-up 3 players · 5 phases Shoulder activation with band Warm-up 2 players · 6 phases Dynamic movement patterns Warm-up 5 players · 5 phases Core plank with rotation Warm-up

Read on in the knowledge base: setting drills for beginners · drills without a net · drills where the team has to work together