Try These Fun Volleyball Drills With Your 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 - Team Pepper with Rotating
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling
These types of ball-handling drills allow all athletes to get passing/digging reps, setting reps, and swinging reps in a controlled environment. Coaches can have players switch groups to ensure that everyone gets to play with everyone. When more than one group is going, coaches can make a competition of this by seeing which group can last the longest.
For more ball-handling warmup drills for groups of different sizes or needs, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #2 - Dig To Yourself Pepper
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling
We like this drill because it emphasizes the importance of "digging up and high," and gives the digger a setting rep. This is great way to warm-up when you have younger, or beginner athletes in your gym.
For more drills to teach setting and out-of-system attacking, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #3 - Cooperative Team Pepper, Over the Net
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling
This is a great warmup drill for teams and players of all ages. See how long the rally can last as all the athletes try to keep the pass-set-spike sequences alive for as long as possible.
For more cooperative team drills, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #4 - Shortcourt
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Competitive, Gamelike, Small Group
Volleyball shortcourt is an awesome activity for new players because it gives them the opportunity to perform all the skills without having to be very good or experiences at all the skills because everything is happening in a confined space. With the added element of score being kept, the element of competition and winning is introduced.
We have a huge library of different shortcourt variations to meet the needs to all teams and court availability. To see those other variations, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #5 - Speedball
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Competitive, Gamelike, Small Group
As coaches want to start using more of the court, but still with small-group teams, speedball becomes a very fun drill for new players. Small teams result in all the players needing to perform all the skills (passing, setting, hitting, digging, and serving) regularly. The "speed" aspect results in all of the teams participating as teams switch on and off with each other throughout the game.
Different speedball variations can result in different team sizes, different amounts of teams, and even different court sizes. To see the variation that you like most, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #6 - King/Queen of the Court
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Competitive, Gamelike, Small Group
Monarch of the Court is a favorite for players of all ages. If you win, you become the monarch. If you win again, the remain the monarch as other teams try to dethrone you. Again, this game requires all players to serve, pass, set, spike, and dig. This drill should be in every volleyball coach's library of commonly used activities.
There are lots of ways to play this game, from 2-vs-2 to 6-vs-6 to permanent setters to rotating teams. To see them all, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #7 - Doghouse
Category: Warmup, Ball-Handling, Competitive, Gamelike, Small Group
Doghouse is the opposite of Monarch of the Court. In Doghouse, the losing team stays in the doghouse and remains there until it can win a rally. This activity gives players the opportunity to problem solve and bounce back from mistakes as they learn to perform the skills of volleyball.
For more fun small group volleyball games, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #8 - 400s
Category: 6 vs 6, Ball-Handling, Gamelike, Competitive
In a drill like 400s, we can introduce larger teams (5 vs 5 or 6 vs 6) and play gamelike volleyball, but on a slightly smaller court than a full size court. This type of volleyball game emphasizes general ball control and competitiveness while seeing longer rallies because the court is smaller.
For more gamelike volleyball drills with constaints, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #9 - Setting Circle
Category: 6 vs 6, Gamelike, Competitive
We like this "setting circle" format because the athletes are continually moving while setting, catching, and shagging. Movement and engagement is one of the keys to a good volleyball drill for beginners.
For more 6 vs 6 volleyball drills, please visit: https://community.goldmedalsquared.com/c/drills/
Drill #10 - Scramble to Seven
Category: 6 vs 6, Gamelike, Competitive
We don't recommend playing a LOT of 6 vs 6 at the youth level, but when you do, a scramble format is a great way to get a lot of reps. Furthermore, it keeps the ball moving and the athletes engaged. You can use this drill for beginners all the up to Olympians. It's a favorite!
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/
