Mat dive drill

Two lines, one mat, and a short ball you can only reach with a dive. The mat takes the fear out of the landing, so players really do dare to let themselves fall. Because everybody walks on after their dive and rejoins the back of the line, the tempo stays high enough to use this as a warm-up.

8 players 9 phases ± 15 min 4 balls, a thick crash mat, half a court From U13 upwards

Phase 1 of 9Two lines at the mat; the coach has the ball

1 to 8 = the players in two lines; the one at the front dives and then rejoins the back Coach 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

Training falling technique: defenders dive over a mat to a short ball from the coach and roll back into the line.

Daring to fall on a soft surface, without thinking about the landing.
Playing the ball during the fall instead of after it.
A lot of repetitions in a short time, because the line keeps moving up.

Coaching points

First a few dives without a ball, until the landing looks right.

With a ball in play nobody watches their own technique. Two rounds of dry dives make it visible who lands on the knees, and you can correct that before it becomes a habit.

Chest and stomach land, not the knees.

Landing on the knees gives you bruises and, more importantly, it slows you down. Slide on through on your chest and you keep your speed and get further to the ball.

The hands play the ball, the arms only catch the fall afterwards.

Players put their hands down to break the fall and then play the ball with their forearms on the way through. Contact with the ball comes first, the support after.

Anyone who finds it scary starts from a squat next to the mat.

Building up from low to high works; building back down from high does not. A player who lands badly once will stay out of diving drills for two months.

Variations

Easier: The coach throws the ball straight above the mat, so the player only has to do the falling. Anyone who wants to can slide from a standing start without a ball first.
Harder: The ball comes just next to the mat, so the player has to choose a direction; switch diving side every round so the weak side gets its turn too.
With six players: One line of six with two balls: while the first one is getting up, the second is already on the way. The coach has a third player roll the balls back.
As a game: Two lines against each other, three minutes. Every save that comes back playable to the coach is a point; a dive onto the knees costs one.

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: learning to dive and roll · landing safely as injury prevention · building a warm-up