Serving and reception rotation

Five servers, five passers and a fixed rotation: after every round everybody swaps roles. Nobody serves twenty balls in a row and nobody passes twenty in a row, so you train both sides of the same contact. The setter catches the ball and rolls it on to the next server, which keeps the drill running by itself.

10 players 8 phases ± 20 min 6 balls, full court with net From U15 upwards

Phase 1 of 8Five servers ready; the receivers stand in a W formation

Receiving team (P = passer, L = libero, S = setter, M = middle) 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

Serve receive: five servers, five receivers in a W formation. After the pass to the setter the roles switch.

Serving and passing right after each other, so you notice what your own ball does on the other side.
A pass that lands on the same spot at the setter every time.
A drill that rotates itself, without the coach having to call names.

Coaching points

Watch where your serve lands before you rotate on.

Players usually turn away the moment the ball has left their hand. Keep watching until the pass and you see straight away what your serve did to the passer — that is the fastest way to learn there is.

The passer is in position before the server tosses.

Rotating takes time, and anybody still on the move when the ball goes up passes off balance. Being there in time is half of serve receive.

Pass to where the setter is running, not to where the setter stands.

At the serve your setter is not on the final position yet. Passing to where they are right now gives a ball behind their back and a set that has to travel backwards.

Serve at a player, not into the empty space next to them.

In this drill every ball is meant to be passed. An untouchable ace looks strong, but it gives the passers no repetition and you no information.

Variations

Easier: The servers stand on the three-meter line and throw the ball instead of serving it. The rotation stays exactly as it is; that is the core of the drill.
Harder: Just before contact the server calls the name of the passer being targeted. That player then has to play the ball themselves.
With eight players: Four servers and four passers, with one setter who stays put. The line moves on faster and everybody serves more often.
As a game: The receiving side scores a point for every pass the setter can catch without stepping, the servers for every ball that drops or goes out. After ten balls the roles swap; two rounds decide the winner.

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: serve receive drills from technique to match tempo · the forearm pass as a steady platform · getting your setter to the net in serve receive