Block and defense switch

This is not about the block on its own, but about everything standing around it. The block closes, the defense drops in with the same movement, and the moment the ball gets past it everybody has to switch roles. For most teams that switch from defending to attacking is the slowest second in the whole game.

10 players 11 phases ± 25 min 6 balls, full court with net Advanced, from U19 upwards

Phase 1 of 11A is in the defensive system, B has the ball at the setter

Your own team (M = blockers, L = libero, D = opposite, S = setter) The opposition with setter and hitters 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

Blocking: the block jumps, the defenders cover the court behind it, then a fast switch to the attack. Training the system.

Block and defense as one movement: if the block shifts, the rest shifts with it.
The switch after the attack: blockers off the net, setter to the ball.
Setting up an attack off a dug ball instead of off a clean pass.

Coaching points

The defense does not set until the block is set.

Back-court players who commit too early end up in the very angle the block has just closed off. Stand in the shadow of the block, not next to it.

The blocker opens up to the court, not toward the net.

Turn toward the net and you lose sight of the ball and end up with your back to your own attack. You always open up on the side the ball is on.

The setter runs to the dug ball, not to his usual spot.

In transition the ball rarely comes where you want it. A setter who stands waiting in position 2 or 3 is asking his libero for a perfect ball under pressure.

Call for the counter-attack while the ball is still on its way up.

Your setter has to know who is available before he gets under the ball. In transition that is often only one hitter, and that hitter has to announce himself.

Variations

Easier: The coach tosses the ball to the opposing hitter instead of setting it, so the attack always comes from the same place.
Harder: The rally runs on until the ball is dead, with a free attack on both sides.
With six players: Three defenders and one blocker against a setter and two hitters; swap sides every five balls.
As a game: Only the transition counts: a finished counter-attack is two points, a dug ball that does not lead to an attack is nothing. First to ten.

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: switching from defense to attack · perimeter and rotation defense explained · the defender's posture and position