Volleyball drills · Passing · Attack · Defense

Pepper in fours plus a rotator

Five pairs and an eleventh player who keeps dropping in between them. Whoever comes in is inside a live rally within two seconds, and stepping in cold like that is exactly what a substitution in a match asks of a player.

11 players 7 phases ± 12 min 5 balls, the full width of the gym From U15 upwards

Phase 1 of 7Five pairs spread out, the rotator stands ready

Eleven players: five pairs and one rotator who keeps rotating in 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

Technique: five pairs play pepper (pass-set-attack) and an eleventh player keeps rotating in.

Stepping cold into a rally that is already running, with no couple of balls first to settle in.
Keeping the dig, set and attack cycle going right through the substitution.
Handling an odd number without anyone standing on the sideline watching.

Coaching points

The rotator comes in with their hands already ready.

Anyone still standing upright while they walk in misses their first ball, and that first ball is the entire point of this drill.

The player going out hands over their spot with a tap.

Without a clear signal either two players swap at once or nobody does, and the ball drops.

Swap at a fixed moment, straight after an attack.

Swapping in the middle of a rally only produces chaos. After the attack there is a natural half-second pause.

Have the rotator step in with a different pair every round.

Always the same pair is comfortable. A different partner with a different tempo every time is the whole idea.

Variations

Easier: When the rotator steps in they get a tossed ball first, before the rally runs on again.
Harder: The coach calls a name at random and that player goes out, no matter where the ball is at that moment.
With six players: Two pairs and two rotators stepping in alternately.
As a game: Every pair counts their complete cycles; the rotator's points go to whichever pair they happen to be with.

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: posture and positioning in defense · using players in two positions · practicing with just two players