Chaos ball

The coach throws deliberately ugly balls: deep in the corner, low, awkward. The team has no system left, only each other — somebody digs the ball up high, somebody gets under it, and something still goes over the net. Exactly the situation where most points leak away.

6 players 7 phases ± 15 min 6 balls, full court From U17 upwards

Phase 1 of 7The team is in base; the coach has a ball

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

Out-of-system scramble: the coach throws in ugly balls; the team turns chaos into three controlled contacts.

Digging up balls outside your own zone and switching straight back into the play afterwards.
Whoever is closest takes the second ball, even when that is not the setter.
Still getting something usable over the net when the build-up has fallen apart.

Coaching points

The player making the save does not call; the player getting under the ball does.

The player diving has no breath and no time. The free player has to announce that he is taking the second ball, otherwise everybody stands there looking at the floor.

Play the emergency ball high and to the middle of the court.

Toward the net is the reflex, but a ball that drifts over the net is a free point for the opponents. High and inside gives your team a second chance.

The setter lets go the moment he cannot be first to the ball.

Out of system, the closest player is the setter. A setter who keeps calling for everything costs you exactly the ball that could still have been saved.

On the third ball, choose placement over power.

Off an emergency set, a hard swing is a gamble. A ball placed with control into the back court keeps the rally alive, and that is what you are after here.

Variations

Easier: Still throw to a corner, but high and announced in advance. The team may use four contacts instead of three.
Harder: Throw to a random corner without warning and count down out loud from three. Or: the third ball has to land behind the three-meter line.
With five players: Leave out the middle and play with two back-court players, a setter and two hitters. That leaves more floor to cover, which makes the drill harder without you having to throw the balls any harder.
As a game: Every saved ball that goes cleanly over the net on the third contact is a point; a ball that comes back down out of control is a point against. Ten balls per round.

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 · defense: low, early and back off the floor · playing a ball out of the net