Catch Volley / Volley Stars

At the first mini-volleyball level the ball is thrown and caught: it goes over the net, the other side catches it and throws it back. Then comes the in-between step where the game really starts — letting the ball bounce once and playing it back with a hand set. After every serving turn the pairs rotate on, so everybody gets to start once.

4 players 6 phases ± 20 min 4 balls, small court, net at mini-volleyball height, marker cones for the starting line Mini-volleyball levels 1 and 2, roughly ages 6 to 9

Phase 1 of 6Level 1 throw and catch; A starts behind the line with the ball

Pair A Pair B Equipment 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

Youth volleyball basics: throw and catch, then a bounce set, rotate after the serving turn until the loop is round.

Catching with two hands above the head — the same posture as the overhead set.
Throwing with a target: over the net and inside the court, not just away.
Rotating on after the serving turn without an adult having to organize it.

Coaching points

You catch above your head, not against your stomach.

A child who catches the ball against his stomach is standing too low to hand set it later on. The catch is the first setting drill, even though it looks like throwing.

Throw with two hands from behind the head.

One hand produces a throw that has nothing to do with volleyball. With two hands the child practices exactly the arm extension of the overhead set.

On the bounce set: let the ball bounce first, then get underneath it.

Children run at the ball and play it while they are still moving. The bounce is there precisely to teach them to stop before they play.

Rotate on after every serving turn, even when a pair is winning.

Completing the loop is the point of this drill: everybody starts once and nobody stays on the same side for the whole exercise.

Variations

Easier: Throwing and catching only, with a lighter ball and a lower net. Catching the ball against the body is allowed.
Harder: The ball may no longer bounce and has to be played straight back with a hand set. Or: catching is only allowed on the first ball, after that everything is played.
With twelve players: Three courts side by side, two pairs on each court. After every serving turn the starting pair moves up a court.
As a game: Count to ten. A point from a played ball counts double, a point from a thrown ball counts single — that way every pair wants to move up to the next level of its own accord.

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: the mini-volleyball rules level by level · the six mini-volleyball levels · learning to hand set without sore fingers