Serving to zones with catchers

Seven catchers cover the zones across the whole court and four servers work their way along them: short, deep, short, deep. The catcher here is not a passer but a living target — they catch the ball and send it back, so every serve gets an immediate verdict. Switching between short and deep is the real exercise, not hitting a zone as such.

11 players 9 phases ± 15 min 4 balls, full court with net From U15 upwards

Phase 1 of 9Four servers on the service line, seven catchers occupy the zones

Four servers on the service line Seven catchers covering the zones 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

Serving drill: four servers serve over the net to seven catchers who occupy the zones.

Serving short and deep in turn, with no ball in between to get used to the new distance.
Controlling depth with the contact point instead of with power.
Working out which zones your serve can already reach and which ones it cannot.

Coaching points

Short and deep differ in contact point, not in speed.

Players who want a short serve slow the arm down; players who want depth start hammering. The difference belongs in where you hit the ball: below the middle it travels long, on the middle it stays short.

After a short ball comes a deep one: let the previous one go.

Players carry the correction from their last ball with them. If that one was too short, the deep one automatically goes too long. Every serve starts again from zero.

The catcher stays put in their zone and reaches at most.

A catcher who runs two meters to get the ball is approving every serve. Only what they can reach from where they stand counts as a hit.

Serve zones 1 and 5 deep, zones 2 and 4 short.

Deep in the corners is awkward for a passer because they have to move backwards. Short at the front positions is awkward because the setter is running through that space. Those are the two serves that pay off most.

Variations

Easier: Only the deep zones (1, 6 and 5), and the catcher is allowed two steps. Serving from the three-meter line is fine.
Harder: The server calls their zone and whether they are going short or deep; the ball only counts if both are right.
With six players: Two servers and four catchers covering the back zones only. Servers and catchers swap roles after five balls.
As a game: Every server gets eight balls, alternating short and deep. Two points for a zone hit at the right depth, nothing for the rest; the highest total 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: choosing between a short and a deep serve · zones 1 through 6 · keeping eleven players working on one court