Teaching
Volleyball Skills - How to Teach Volleyball Skills?
Read about teaching volleyball skills. Find out how to teach volleyball
skills in practice.
To help you to understand we give you an example and
reflect volleyball teaching methods specifically into
volleyball digging. How players learn correct volleyball
techniques in less time?
Teaching Volleyball Skills - A Piece by Piece
We have talked about importance of teaching beginning volleyball
players “a piece by piece”, not dumping all the technical details for
them at once – since only the most talented athletes are able to pick
up complex volleyball skills at once.
Volleyball coach should “break the complex skills down” and let players
digest the information in smaller parts.
Why Teaching Volleyball "a Piece by Piece"?
We apply this idea into volleyball digging.
It is impossible for beginning volleyball player to comprehend
and start using all different digging techniques instantly – it will
probably take months or years to master all the techniques.
To make sure player gets exposed to each volleyball digging technique
we practice those techniques separately.
What Is the Purpose of Teaching Volleyball “a Piece
by Piece”?
The purpose is to work every digging technique into the muscle memory a
piece by piece - repeating different scenarios in practice - one after
another.
By giving enough repetitions and practice time
to each digging technique players learn to use correct techniques
automatically on the court.
Teaching Volleyball Skills Takes Time
Progressing one technique at the time helps you to learn techniques
properly. You'll learn techniques in less time when you get exposed to
each digging technique in practice through multiple repetitions. It
doesn't happen in the match since players won't get enough contacts
when playing.
Still do not expect learning happen overnight, it
may take months or even years to learn to use digging techniques in the
match.
Teaching
Volleyball
Skills - Example of Volleyball Digging Drills
Phase I
- Throw the Ball to Defender, Off the Net
Why?
Volleyball digging, especially digging a hard driven ball can be little
bit scary for beginning volleyball players. Therefore coach should
start by tossing and throwing the ball to defender.
The purpose of the
first phase is to get introduced to correct techniques when ball is
being tossed or thrown to the player.
If Throw is Too Easy, Start Spiking
If players are more experienced and are ready to defend spikes, coach
can spike the ball instead of throwing the ball at them.
Notice that
coach needs to have an accurate swing because he needs to target the
ball to specific spots around the player - on the left side, on the
right side, overhead, etc.
Important in Teaching Volleyball - Teach How to Toss/Throw the
Ball
If coaches have taught players to throw the ball, players pair up.
Seriously, teaching throwing should be done in the beginning when
starting to coach beginning
volleyball players! It helps the coach tremendously. Also players learn
quicker when tosses are accurate.
If players are not able throw the
ball into others, coaches should take the throwing/tossing duties.
Teaching Volleyball Skills - Volleyball Digging Form
Pairs pair up about 15-20 feet from each other. The assistant throws
the ball directly in front of the player who is the basic defensive
position. The player performs the dig by taking the basic defensive
stand by
- Placing the feet more than shoulders apart
- Putting weight on the toes – NOT on the heels
- Squatting (90 degree knee angle) into the low
defensive position.
- Keeping the arms relaxed and hands separate
(not joined together yet!) in front of the body – being ready to dig
the ball (underhand or over head.)
- Looking at the arm and following the
approaching ball with eyes all the way through – and placing the arm
platform under the ball - by joining the hands together and extending
the arms completely.
Important in Volleyball Digging - Weight on Toes
It is important to pay attention to the fact that the player’s weight
should be in front, on the toes. NOT on the heels! It allows the player
to move and react
quickly, if the player needs to move after the rebounding ball or the
attacker’s tip or roll.
Often beginning volleyball players make the
mistake of expecting the ball to land on their hands – and put the
heels on the ground. Players need to
be ready to change their position quickly! Always! When throwing the
ball, the
assistant could tip the ball every once in a while to teach players to
move from the defensive position.
To see specific details about digging techniques, go to “volleyball
digging” pages under volleyball skills section.
Teaching Volleyball Skills for the Beginning Volleyball Players- Throw
the ball first
The assistant should toss around maximum of 6-12 balls after another,
it helps players to focus on every single ball that will be thrown –
also squatting into the defensive position many times in a row can be
exhausting.
After the first set of tosses, players switch.
If coach is the tosser allow a
little break before digging another set. It helps players to focus on
every set and gives opportunity for coach to give feedback.
If possible the tosser/thrower should have 2-3 balls to keep up the
tempo in
the drill, in case the digger misshits the ball.
Teaching Volleyball Skills - Phase II
After all the different techniques (overhead digging, digging hard
driven ball, digging a ball on the side, etc.) have been introduced,
coach can move to the next phase – start spiking the ball for the
players without the net – or to swing the ball over the net for the
defending players – depending what was the beginning level of the
players.
When spiking the ball, the coach uses the same idea – not mixing up all
the different digging techniques, but teaching digging skills one at
the time.
Coach should progress from the basic dig into digging the
ball on the side, then digging overhead, then digging hard driven ball
etc. All those different digging techniques are different from others –
and it helps players to learn when teaching them separately.
To Conclude Teaching Volleyball Skills
The purpose is to progress slowly towards more complicated volleyball
drills – to make sure players learn all the techniques correctly.
Coach should not expect beginning volleyball players to dig spikes over
the net with correct techniques instantly – it is better to start by
tossing the ball without the net first.
This same progressive teaching
method should be used with all the volleyball skills.
We must remember volleyball skills training is not for the beginning
volleyball players only. Also top volleyball teams at the higest level
focus on training volleyball techniques. Volleyball skills drills at
the pro level are obviously much more complex than for beginning
volleyball players - but the main idea remains the same: tons of
repetitions and learning details of each passing technique.