Explore volleyball beginner drills.  How to improve skills by playing games?

In other ball games, for example in basketball or soccer, 1-on-1, 2-on-2 or other small group games are successfully used in the training.

Several professionals in these sports have said they gained many essential skills simply by playing one-on-one. Small group games are great for the skills development, since they maximize ball contacts.

How to play one play one-on-one game in volleyball?

Example 1:
1 on 1 Volleyball Game – Passing Game

• Form one-player teams who play against each other by bumping only.

• When only one contact is allowed, it makes the game fast tennis-like game.  This particular drill teaches footwork effectively.
• This game also teaches players contact the ball, not only in front of the hips, but also all around the body – i.e. on the sides, which is extremely important in volleyball.
• Use a small court size in this bumping game.For the beginning volleyball players one side of the court could be around 10 X 15 feet or 3 X 4,5 meters, so you could make up 3 courts in the regular size volleyball court.

  Change the court size smaller or bigger depending on the players’ skill level.

Important! How to Contact Ball in Volleyball Passing?

The coach should be pushing players to move behind the ball and contact it in front of the hips. However, the ball is contacted all over the body in the match; therefore it needs to be practiced also.

When making the court longer (or wider) it helps players to learn to contact the ball also on the left and right side of the body, because players simply don’t have time to move behind the ball every time – the same occurs in the match constantly.

Volleyball Beginner Drills – Other Volleyball Game Drills

Example 2:
1 on 1 Volleyball Game – Setting Game

• Run same game than above – by setting – to improve overhead serve receive and setting skills

Example 3:
1 on 1 Volleyball Game – Multiple Contacts

• Allow more contacts. Teams could be using 2 or 3 contacts.

You can make games more difficult by adding rules, which enforce players to use i.e. one arm serve receive with the first contact, or tomahawk, tipping or knuckles with the third contact.

The coach can create unlimited number of games just by imagination. For example if the practice theme is to practice tipping, the coach could make player tip the ball over with the third contact – with or without jump.

If you want to make the drill more game-like, form 2-3 player teams and make the court bigger. Small group games are very successful training methods in junior volleyball – most importantly they are fun since players love to play.

Using Volleyball Games As Warm Ups

All these games are also great in warm-ups. They are much better than traditional peppering, which really doesn’t teach you to play the game. Games on the net are better since in those the ball is flying over the net.

Example 4:
Volleyball Warm Up Game Drills – Team vs. Team

• Include 2 or 3 players in each team.  Teams play the ball back and forth over the net by passing, setting and spiking the ball to the other side.

• The purpose is to keep the rally going as long as possible.  More advanced players could hit the ball behind the 10 feet line, so there is a little bit more time for defenders to react and dig the ball to the setter.

• Rotate the players after each attack, so all the players have the opportunity to work on setting, passing and hitting skills.
• Divide the regular sized court into 2 or 3 smaller courts for this game – each court being 10-15 feet wide full length court.

To Read More About Beginner Drills

Beginner Volleyball Drills
Read how to practice setting and passing skills by yourself without a team.