Serve + free ball wash game

Two kinds of points: you win the small point in the rally, but the big point only comes once you win twice in a row. The first rally starts with a serve; whoever loses it gets a free ball from the coach afterwards and with it a second chance. If the teams split the two rallies, the score is washed out and it starts over.

9 players 10 phases ± 25 min Ball cart with at least twelve balls, full court From U17 upwards

Phase 1 of 10A serves for the small point; B is in serve receive

Serving team (S = setter) Receiving team Coach 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

Small/big point: serve (small point), the coach tosses a free ball to the loser; win twice = big point.

Winning twice in a row: finishing the point off instead of only drawing level.
Turning the coach's free ball into a real attack.
Seeing the second ball as an attacking chance — the setter is allowed to put it over himself.

Coaching points

The small point counts for nothing, the big point counts for everything.

Only a team that wins the rally and the free ball scores. That makes the team that just won play the second ball with exactly the tension of a set point.

The team that lost the rally gets the free ball.

That is unfair on purpose: the team that is behind gets the easiest ball and the winning team still has to hold on. Without that rule the drill turns into a one-sided run.

The setter looks at the block first and only then at his hitter.

The setter dump in the animation only works if the block has already jumped with the outside hitter. Decide on the dump beforehand and you are giving the ball away.

On a free ball everybody first gets back behind the three-meter line.

Teams take the free ball too far forward and then attack without an approach. Getting back and running in again is worth half a meter of jump.

Variations

Easier: The free ball is thrown in high and straight, and one won rally is already enough for a big point.
Harder: Three rallies in a row for the big point, with the third ball a down ball the coach drives in hard.
With eight players: Four against four on a narrower court. The coach feeds the free ball in from the side so the roles stay the same.
As a game: Play to five big points. When a series is split neither team gets anything — having the substitutes count out loud keeps the score honest.

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: small and big points in a wash drill · the setter dump on the second ball · the free ball and the down ball