Forearm passing gauntlet (12)

Six pairs, six balls, and after every round everybody shifts one place along so you get a different partner across from you each time. That rotation is what makes this drill worth doing: passing to a tall player is a different job from passing to someone who is still hunting for the ball.

12 players 6 phases ± 12 min 6 balls, the full width of the gym From U13 upwards

Phase 1 of 6Six pairs facing each other; each pair has a ball

Twelve players in six pairs facing each other 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

Passing in the gauntlet: two lines facing each other pass the ball back and forth forearm and keep rotating.

Maximum contacts: everybody plays at the same time, nobody waits.
Adjusting your pass to whoever is standing across from you.
Rotating without the balls ending up in the wrong hands.

Coaching points

Play to your partner, not to your own habit.

Every receiver has a different height and a different tempo. The ball should fit the person who is getting it.

When you rotate, the ball stays with the player who stays put.

Otherwise one pair ends up with two balls and half the line is standing still while somebody goes looking.

Keep the distance between the two lines the same.

Lines creep toward each other all by themselves while you play, and the passes get shorter and flatter without anybody noticing.

As a coach, watch one thing at a time.

With six pairs going at once there is no way you can see everything. Pick one point beforehand — the height of the ball, say — and judge everybody on that.

Variations

Easier: The ball may bounce once between two contacts, or players catch it and throw it back.
Harder: Every pair has to get five balls in a row before it is allowed to rotate.
With six players: Three pairs, and let the line jump a whole place after each round so the combinations change faster.
As a game: Which pair keeps the ball up the longest? Rounds of ninety seconds, and the winning pair does not have to rotate.

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 forearm pass · more ball contacts per player · scaling drills when the levels differ