Square drill

Four cones, four players, one ball going around in a fixed order — and after every contact you follow it to the corner you just played it to. Simple on paper, but the running and the playing have to stay in step, and that is the whole drill.

4 players 6 phases ± 12 min 1 ball, 4 cones From U13 upwards

Phase 1 of 6Four players at the cones of the square; the ball is at corner 1

Your own team, spread over the four corners 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

Square drill: four small groups on the corners, play the ball around in a fixed order and move on after your contact.

Playing the ball to a fixed spot instead of to a player.
Leaving straight after your contact, without watching your own ball.
Arriving at your new corner with your shoulders already turned to the ball.

Coaching points

Play to the cone, not to the player.

The next player is still on the move. Aim at him and the ball always ends up behind him; aim at the corner and he runs into it on his own.

High is fine, slow is fine.

In a follow-the-ball drill, hang time is your teammate's travel time. A flat, quick ball looks good and breaks exactly the thing you are training here.

Leave the moment you have played the ball.

A player who watches for half a beat arrives late at the next corner and makes the ball wait for him. The rhythm of the whole drill hangs on that one moment.

Run around the cone, not past it.

The cone marks the spot where the ball is going. Players who cut the corner end up a little further from the right spot every round, and after ten rounds the square no longer holds its shape.

Variations

Easier: Make the square smaller and hand set everything, without following the ball. Rhythm first, then add the running.
Harder: Reverse the direction halfway through on a signal from the coach, or prescribe a technique per corner: hand set, forearm pass, hand set, forearm pass.
With eight players: Two players per corner, with the second stepping in as soon as the first leaves. The ball keeps moving without a break and nobody waits.
As a game: Count the number of complete rounds in two minutes. Every ball on the floor resets the counter to zero, so the last thirty seconds carry the most weight.

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: aiming your platform instead of swinging at the ball · hand setting with the right hands and feet · setting drills for beginners