This volleyball practice plan focuses on serving and passing. We’ll introduce a variety of fun drills to help develop strong serving fundamentals and apply those skills to game situations.
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Phase 1 – Dynamic Warmup (0:00-0:10)
- Light Jog – jog to the net and back to the end line (3x’s)
- Side Shuffle –swing arms front and back while shuffling
- Carioca –rotate hips sideways
- High Knees – bring the knees up while jogging forward
- Buttkicks –bring the heel of the foot to the butt
- Lunges – reach one leg forward and squat down
- High Kicks – kick one leg up parallel to the ground
- Side Leans –squat and lean side to side
- Knees to Chest –pull one knee up to the chest
- Classic Quad –pull one leg behind
- Ballerina –extend one leg back in the air
- Sprints – go 75% top speed to the net and back (2x’s)
Phase 2 – Butterfly (0:10-0:20)

- Divide your players into three separate groups.
- One group will start as Servers, one as Passers (on the other side of the net), and one as Target Setters (near the net).
- Give each group 2-3 balls.
- The first player in the Server line will complete a serve to the line of Passers and then run to the back of the passing line.
- The first Passer will receive the serve, hit a bump pass directed to the Target, and run to the back of the setting line.
- The first Target will catch the ball and run will the ball to the back of the Serving line.
- This cycle should continue without stopping until all players have gone through every position at least once.
- **Teach players to focus on each aspect of them game as they continue to warm up using this drill
Phase 3 – Self to Partner Passing (0:20-0:30)

- Partner up your players and give each pair a ball.
- The first player will toss the ball to their partner.
- The second player then passes the ball directly up in the air to themselves.
- Then they make any pass they desire to their partner (bump, set, spike, etc.).
- Then the first player receives the ball and passes it directly up in to their to themselves.
- Then they make any pass they desire back to their partner (bump, set, spike, etc.).
- This continues until each pair has completed 10 consecutive passes.
- **Teach players to communicate and talk to each other as they go through the steps of this drill.
DRILL TIMEOUT – 30 Seconds
Phase 4 – Serving Tape (0:30-0:45)

- Divide your team into two groups and tape a line from antenna to antenna so that it is about 3 feet above the net.
- On the whistle, have each group start serving the ball.
- Every time a ball goes over the taped line or hits the line or hits the net, the player has to do fingertip pushups.
- Every time a ball goes in between the tape and the net, that group gets one point.
- The first group to 10 points wins and the other team has to do fingertip pushups.
- **Encourage your players to stay in control and use proper form when serving.
Phase 5 – 5 To Die (0:45-1:05)
- Set-up 3 players in back row positions, 1 setter, and a line of servers.
- On the command SET GO, the Servers will take turns serving balls across the net.
- The back row players will try and receive the serve and pass it to the Target.
- Out of every 5 in-bound serves they must get 3 to the Target.
- If they don’t, then that back row group comes off the court and does a punishment and a new group comes on.
- If they succeed, then all of the Servers must do a punishment (e.g. lines, pushups, etc.).
- **This drill helps reinforce to players that they must challenge one another in order to improve.

DRILL TIMEOUT – 30 Seconds
Phase 6 – 6 v 6 Play & Apply (0:45-1:30)

- Organize your players into teams of 6.
- Play as many sets as you can.
- Rotate teams or players after each set.
- Use 2 or more “drill timeouts” as needed.
- **Apply the principles talked about in practice and help players recognize when they did something right.
**Make sure they play at full speed so that you paint the picture of what it will look like in a game. - If players are developing bad habits, slow it down, demonstrate proper technique and then continue.
COOL DOWN AND STRETCH