Attacking against a double block

Two real blockers, no cones. The moment there are hands above the net everything changes: the hitter has to spot the gap while he is already in the air and adjust his swing to it. That only works if he contacts the ball high enough to have anything left to choose from at all.

4 players 6 phases ± 20 min 8 balls, full court with net Advanced, from U19 upwards

Phase 1 of 6Two blockers at the net; the coach stands cross-court deep with the balls

Your own team (S = setter) The opposition's blockers Coach 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

Attack at position 4 against two real blockers; read the block and score around it.

Reading the block during the approach and the jump, not afterwards.
Hitting past the block instead of into it.
Using the hands of the block: a tool off the block or over the outside hand.

Coaching points

Watch the outside hand of the block.

That hand tells you whether the line is closed. If it stays inside the antenna, the line is open; if it moves out, the cross is free.

If the block is well set, hit off the hands.

A ball driven hard into the outside hand flies out, and that is a point, not an error. Hitters who insist on going around it hit themselves out.

Contact the ball in front of your body, not above it.

Let the ball come above your head and the only swing left is straight down: right into the block. In front of your body every angle is still open.

Blockers: you close the block with your hands, not with your shoulders.

A gap between two blocking hands is exactly where a good hitter pokes the ball through. The outside blocker sets the position, the second one joins onto him.

Variations

Easier: The blockers only put their hands up without jumping; the hitter gets used to hands in his field of view.
Harder: The block decides for itself whether to shut down the line or the cross, and announces nothing.
With six players: Add a defender behind the block and one in the cross-court; the attack only counts once the ball hits the floor.
As a game: Attack against block, first to ten. A stuff block counts double, a tool off the block is a point for the hitter.

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: hitting a tool off a closed block · organising a block against a strong hitter · choosing line or cross