Volleyball Passing Drills

In the previous volleyball passing drills you have learned the volleyball player should always perform the pass in front of the body – but as explained in volleyball skills section very often it is simply not possible.

In the match the player is repeatedly forced to pass the ball on the side, not in front of the body. 


To fully understand what we mean by passing the ball outside what is considered “a perfect passing form”, go to volleyball skills section and "Advanced Volleyball Serve Receive Techniques" page.



Keeping It Simple!  Learning Skills a Piece by Piece

These volleyball passing drills follow the same ideas than already presented volleyball drills. We break down the skills into little pieces and practice complicated skills a little by little.

The goal is to introduce new skills to the player progressively. The coach should not to dump new techniques to the players at once which may result as repeating the exercise with bad techniques. 

Volleyball Passing Drills – Goals: Wider Passing Range and Better Ball Control

How to Organize?

3 Person Groups - Server, Passer, Target:
When performing these passing drills on the net, the coach needs to add a target by the net.

A target returns the volleyball to the server/tosser to get the drill flowing efficiently.

Use Two-Ball Rotation:
It is recommended to use two balls in one group of 3 persons to get more reps done in the shorter period of time.

Technical Details:

One Side at the Time:
The goal of this volleyball passing drill is to work on the right side of the body first, before progressing to the left side of the body. Or the other way around.

• The coach tosses the ball over the net, standing fairly close to the net and placing the ball clearly to the right side of the player



• The ball should be clearly above waist level, high enough to force the player to turn the upper body toward side line.

Pass High on the Left and Right Side:

• The player should NOT get behind the volleyball in this drill, the goal is to learn the pass the ball when there is no time to get behind the ball - the scenario which happens for the passers frequently in the matches 



• The player will turn her upper body toward the left sideline



• The player may have to take a step back with the eft foot to have a balanced and steady feet when performing the pass

Platform Toward the Setter:

• IMPORTANT! The player turns the forearm passing platform towards the target (a setter) and directs the volleyball to the target
  
  
  Turning the platform toward the setter is the most difficult part and needs attention from the coach.
  
  
  

  Tips for the Coach:

• The coach need to encourage players that it is ok NOT to move behind the ball in this drill.
  
  
  
• This have to be practiced as much as any other passing technique.
  
  In order to learn it, we simply need to get enough repetitions done. Make sure players really work on it. Since players may not feel comfortable with this technique, they automatically try to pass in front of body.



• Beginning players could practice 1) taking the step back with the left foot, 2) turning the body and 3) directing the platform towards setter WITHOUT the ball first to get comfortable with it. 



• The coach could work just one side at the time to help players learning the techniques correctly. After changing positions with the target, next round the coach can toss the volleyball to the right side. Keep things simple in the beginning!
  
  
• Tossers start fairly close to the net and start moving further toward the backline.

At some point start serving the ball instead of throwing it.



• The coach can add difficulty to this drill by making players take shuffle steps to the left or right, but emphasizing - it will be ok not to move all the way to the “perfect passing form”.

Volleyball Passing Drills - "I don’t understand how this bad technique will benefit the players?"

First, this is not a bad technique. This volleyball technique is widely used among volleyball players and is a sign of a good ball control and great volleyball skills.

Some great volleyball players use this method to their advantage, increased ball control and ability to pass ball around them allows them not to move behind the ball every single time. It allows them to pass the ball from the very wide range. There are some situations in which this method is very beneficial to the player.

Related Volleyball Drills Pages

Volleyball Drills Passing Overhead

Advanced Volleyball Serve Receive Techniques

Advanced Volleyball Drills