Attacking high balls

The pass is deliberately mediocre, so the setter has to come off the net and set from well back. The ball comes in high and drifts slightly inside, and that asks for a different approach: leaving later, a delay step, and only stepping under the ball once it is already dropping. In a match this is the most common ball there is, and in practice the least rehearsed.

2 players 8 phases ± 15 min 8 balls, half court with net From U17 upwards

Phase 1 of 8The coach stands deep with two balls; the setter waits at the net

Your own team (S = setter) 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

A so-so pass and a high outside ball; delay step and score on a set that is not perfect.

Leaving later the higher and slower the set is.
The delay step: waiting a beat before the last two steps.
Scoring on a ball that is not sitting tight to the net.

Coaching points

The higher the set, the later you leave.

Leaving too early is the standard mistake in youth volleyball, and on a high ball it becomes painfully visible: they jump, come down, and end up putting the ball back up with two hands. Make them watch the ball start to drop first.

Wait with your feet, not in the air.

The correction belongs in the approach. Wait in the air and you hang there, hitting from a dead spot.

On a set that comes from well off the net, take off further from the net.

That ball travels into the court instead of along it. Jump in your usual spot and you catch it from underneath and it goes out.

Take the cross, not the line.

A ball that hangs inside gives you no angle down the line. Cross-court you have more court and more time.

Variations

Easier: The coach throws the high ball outside himself, so the flight path is the same every time and only the timing counts.
Harder: The setter alternates between a tight ball at the net and a high ball from well back; the hitter only knows what he is getting at the moment of the set.
With six players: Add three defenders on the other side. Now the hitter also has to pick where the gap is, and the rally plays on.
As a game: Five high balls per player. Every ball in the court is a point, every ball that goes out costs one. Highest score wins.

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: scoring when the pass is not perfect · the rhythm of the approach · timing between setter and hitter