Serving to zones

Eight players, two target zones and three balls: one side serves, the other side collects the balls and sends them back. That way nobody is standing around with a ball in their hands waiting for the line to come round. The target zone changes with every ball, so aiming stays an action instead of turning into a habit.

8 players 7 phases ± 15 min 2 cones, 3 balls, a full court with net From U15 upwards

Phase 1 of 7Two target zones with cones; serving on the right, ball retrieval on the left

Four servers behind the line and four ball chasers on the other side 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

Serving accuracy: eight players serve in turn from the end line to changing target zones marked with cones.

Serving to zone 5 and zone 1 in turn, so every ball has a different angle.
Staying behind the end line, even when the tempo picks up.
Keeping a serving drill running with few balls and a lot of players.

Coaching points

Your feet stay behind the line until the ball is gone.

At tempo almost everybody steps over the line once without noticing. In a match that is a point gone straight away, and it is the easiest fault to take out right now.

Look at your cone before you toss, not after.

A server who is still hunting for the target during the toss tilts his shoulders, and the ball goes with them. Aiming belongs before the ball leaves the hand.

The chasers roll the balls back along the floor.

A ball that comes back through the air crosses a teammate's serve. Rolling it along the side looks slower and is faster and safer in practice.

Switch sides after every set of serves.

Chasing balls is not a punishment, but it is dead time. Switching on a tight schedule gives everybody the same number of serves and keeps the group moving.

Variations

Easier: One target zone instead of two, as big as half the back court. Servers who cannot cover the distance yet may serve from the three-meter line.
Harder: The chaser who took the previous ball calls the zone for the next serve. So the server only hears his target once he is already standing ready.
With twelve players: Six servers and six chasers with four balls in circulation. Every server gets two balls per turn and then joins the back of the line.
As a game: The serving side has three minutes to hit as many zones as possible. Then the sides switch; the side with the most hits 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: drills without a queue for a big group · exactly where you may stand when you serve · serving at a target zone