Serve placement by zone

Three cones mark the balls that actually matter in a match: the two deep back corners and one short spot just behind the attack line. Six servers work their way through those three targets while the other side collects the balls and sends them back. After every round the line moves on, so nobody gets to camp on his own favorite spot.

12 players 8 phases ± 15 min 3 cones, 3 balls, full court with net From U15 upwards

Phase 1 of 8Six servers ready; three cones mark the target zones

Shaggers at the target zones Six servers 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

Servers aim their serve at fixed target zones in the opposite half to train placement.

Three clearly different targets inside one series: zone 5, zone 1 and short in the middle.
The short ball just behind the attack line, right where the setter is running through.
Keeping on aiming while the group is big and the pace is high.

Coaching points

The short ball lands just behind the attack line, not on it.

A ball on the attack line is an easy overhead ball for the other team. A meter and a half further back and it drops exactly into the gap between the front and the back court.

For a deep corner you toss a fraction higher, not hit harder.

More power flattens the flight path and therefore shortens it. A slightly higher toss gives you the arc that carries all the way into the corner.

Call which cone you are going for before every ball.

Without that call it turns into simply serving balls, and every serve goes wherever happens to work today. Saying it out loud makes every serve an attempt.

The shaggers send the balls back along one fixed route.

With six servers and three balls it gets messy fast. One route along the sideline keeps the court clear and stops a ball rolling under somebody's foot.

Variations

Easier: Only the two deep cones, with a three-by-three-meter target zone around each one. Servers who cannot cover the distance yet start on the three-meter line.
Harder: Fixed order: zone 5 first, then the short cone, then zone 1. On a miss the server starts the sequence again.
With eight players: Four servers and four shaggers with two cones. Everyone serves three balls and then swaps sides.
As a game: Two groups of three servers. A deep corner is worth two points, the short cone three; first to fifteen wins.

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: serving drills with rising pressure zone by zone · keeping twelve players busy on one court · exactly where the attack line and the zones are