Try These Fun Volleyball Drills For Beginners
Whether you are new to coaching volleyball, or an experienced coach needing to learn some new volleyball drills for beginners, we have you covered! Below are popular, fun, and easy to run drills that you and your athletes will love. In addition, we have provided video examples of each of the drills, making learning clear and simple. All of these volleyball drills for beginners are great for girls or boys, and can be modified depending on the number of athletes in your practice.
Our Drill Philosophy
Generally speaking, we view volleyball drills as blocked, random, and semi-random. Blocked drills are predictable and easily repeatable reps that are typically used to teach beginners movements on the court. Once the athletes learn to move, we like to move on to semi-random activities by adding in variables. These drills are somewhere between blocked and fully random. Fully random volleyball drills are typically 6 vs 6, full speed volleyball. There's a time and a place for each of these categories, and we provide examples of each of them in our list of 10 volleyball drills for beginners below.
John Kessel - Beginners Shouldn't Specialize
We think this is a very important messages to any coach working with young or beginner volleyball players. Watch this before proceeding to our list of top volleyball drills for beginners.
Drill #1 - 1:1 Athlete to Ball Ratio
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling
When we have 12 athletes and one ball, reps decrease. With our younger athletes we want to maximize our practice repetitions whenever possible. Here are three variations of a 1:1 ratio that you can use during your pre-practice or warmup that can help to increase practice repetitions for your athletes.
For more ball-handling warmup drills for groups of different sizes or needs, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #2 - 2:1 Athlete to Ball Ratio
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling
When we have 12 athletes and one ball, reps decrease. With our younger athletes we want to maximize our practice repetitions whenever possible. Here are four variations of a 2:1 ratio that you can use during your pre-practice or warmup that can help to increase practice repetitions for your athletes.
For more ball-handling warmup drills for groups of different sizes or needs, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #3 - Dig to Yourself Pepper
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling
This is a great warmup drill for teams and players of all ages. Two athletes grab a ball and complete the following sequence: 1) Spike to partner, 2) Dig to self, 3) Spike to partner, 4) Dig to self, 5) Repeat as long as possible.
For more ball and a partner drills, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #4 - Passing Circle
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Small Group
Coach initiates from the other side of the net from passers. Passers start in either left, middle, or right back. Athletes pass, then become target, then return to the passing line after shagging.
For more ball-handling warmup drills for groups of different sizes or needs, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #5 - Setting Circle
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Small Group
A coach initiates the drill with a toss. The first athlete sets to target. Athletes follow their ball, constantly moving to the next spot. Coaches can vary the location of the toss as well as practice setting different targets. Athletes set, then become target, then shag the ball, then back to set.
For more ball-handling warmup drills for groups of different sizes or needs, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #6 - Hitting Lines: 3 Setters
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Gamelike, Small Group
This drill is 3 hitting lines on one side of the court on a single net. Hitters hold their own balls and hand them to the setter when it’s their turn to hit. The setter tosses to the hitter and they pass, then hit.
Start your athletes hitting back row and progress toward the net.
Tip: Whenever possible have your hitters run to shag around the net instead of running straight under.
For more ball-handling warmup drills for groups of different sizes or needs, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #7 - Mike's Pepper
Category: Small Group, Ball-Handling, Competitive
Explanation needed
For more fun small group volleyball games, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #8 - Jail (with bounce)
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Competitive
A line of attackers starts spiking. If the spiker makes a hitting error (hits out of bounds or into the net), that player goes to stand on the other side of the court (jail). The player in jail can return to the spiking line by contacting an incoming spike and then catching the ball after the initial contact. When this happens, the player who spiked the ball goes to jail while the player who caught the ball returns to the spiking line. If a player spikes a ball in bounds that is not caught by any player, the spiking player remains in the spiking line.
For more gamelike volleyball drills with constaints, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #9 - Crazy Ball
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Competitive, Small Group
Are you coaching a youth team that needs to learn angles? How about angles on deep balls? This is a simple but effective way to get your athletes a ton of angle work without fully blocking the activity. Coach tosses or enters the ball across the net, second athlete either sends it over or sets it up for their partner to send it over. Athletes wave through two at a time.
For more gamelike volleyball drills with constaints, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #10 - Monster
Category: 6 vs 6, Gamelike, Competitive
In a 90-minute youth practice, we recommend spending no more than 20 minutes playing 6 vs 6. If you are right in the middle of teaching an offensive system, such as the 6-2 or 4-2, you may need a little more time. The underlying principle is that when playing 6 vs 6 at the youth level, there’s one ball and 10-12 athletes. Reps plummet, as does engagement. Spend most of your practice time on high-engagement, high-rep activities with a low athlete-to-ball ratio.
If you have low numbers one day in practice, for example, 8 total, put 6 on the receiving side and 2 on the serving side. It’s going to be “team” vs “monsters” (individuals) on the serving side. Play a game to 10 balls in play, per rotation. In play means the serve-receive team must hit a ball back over the net to the defending individuals.
For more 6 vs 6 volleyball drills, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
BONUS Drill #11 - Bagerhone
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Competitive, FUN
Every young player loves this type of drill. Try to win the rally for your team when there is only one or two athletes covering the entire court. This is a fast paced activity that all players want to win while moving around and getting warm before practice starts.
For more similar games, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
SEE MORE ON GMS+!
We have hundreds of drills on GMS+, each with video examples, text descriptions, audio breakdowns, visual graphics, and more. To access our entire library of drills, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
