Overhead float serve receive

High float serves above chest height are the balls most teams still try to take with their forearms, which leaves them with a scooped platform and a pass sailing behind the setter. This drill settles the choice: anything above the chest is played overhead.

4 players 6 phases ± 12 min 6 balls, half court From U17 upwards

Phase 1 of 6Server with two balls; two passers ready, target at the net

P = the two passers, S = target at the net The server 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

Take high float serves overhead to the target; train the choice between forearm and overhead.

Making the choice between forearms and overhead on the height of the ball, not out of habit.
Handling a floating ball overhead without spinning it or carrying it.
With two passers, agreeing who takes it before the ball arrives.

Coaching points

Anything above your chest is played overhead.

A fixed rule works better than 'see what feels best'. Under pressure everyone falls back on habit instead of on a judgement call.

Hands up early, above your forehead.

Lift your hands at the last moment and you contact the ball with straight arms, and then there is nothing left to steer with.

Play with all ten fingers, not with your thumbs.

The thumb is where the double contact comes from. Wide hands with soft fingers absorb the float.

Stay in your knees, even on a high ball.

An overhead pass gets its direction from the legs. Extend with the arms only and the pass comes up short.

Variations

Easier: Toss the ball in high instead of serving, so there is all the time in the world to get underneath it.
Harder: The server alternates high and low, so the player has to choose and sometimes still has to go to the forearms.
With six players: Four passers in a half W, one server and one target; after every five balls the passers change positions.
As a game: Ten balls per passer. Only overhead balls the target catches without stepping count; a carried ball costs a point.

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: overhead passing without sore fingers · reading a ball that will not sit still · when a ball counts as a carry