Serve bomb and passing

Six servers on one side, a full serve receive on the other: the balls come in faster than a team is used to. That is the whole idea — in ten minutes the passers handle more hard serves here than they would in three matches. The setter catches every ball and rolls it back, so the servers set the pace.

12 players 8 phases ± 20 min 6 balls, full court with net From U17 upwards

Phase 1 of 8Five passers and the setter at the net; six servers ready

Receiving team (P = outside hitter, L = libero, M = middle blocker, S = setter) Six servers 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

Six servers hit in turn; six passers handle the serve and play to the setter.

Handling a hard serve without swinging your arms at it.
Volume: plenty of heavy balls back to back, so the technique holds up when you are tired too.
Serving with pace and still keeping the ball inside the lines.

Coaching points

Against a hard ball you do less, not more.

The speed is already in the ball. A passer who swings sends it into the ceiling; the platform should stay still and do nothing but set the angle.

Be ready at the moment the server contacts the ball, not while it is on its way.

On a hard serve there is no time left to step after that. Feet shoulder-width apart and the weight on the balls of the feet, before the contact on the other side.

Servers: swing all the way through if you like, but the ball has to land in.

A drill where half the balls land out is worthless for the passers. Agree that everybody serves at eighty percent and that the percentage counts.

Rotate the passers more often than you would think.

With heavy balls the quality drops off noticeably after ten or so. Carrying on until it really falls apart only trains bad technique.

Variations

Easier: The servers hit at half pace and aim at the passer's midsection. As soon as the first balls run cleanly, the pace goes up a step each round.
Harder: The pass has to land in a two-by-two-meter box next to the setter. Anything outside it does not count, even if the ball was dug up neatly.
With eight players: Four servers and three passers with a setter. With three passers the zones are so wide that every ball becomes a decision.
As a game: The servers play against the passers: an ace or an unplayable ball is a point for the servers, a settable pass a point for the receiving side. At ten the groups swap sides.

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: passing under rising pressure · the platform every rally starts with · still delivering a hittable ball after a poor pass