STRENGTHEN YOUR SERVE & SERVE RECEIVE Beginner Introduction: Today you will learn proper passing and setting technique. We expect you to be very attentive to how your body is moving. We are going to eliminate all unnecessary movements and when you leave you will only be doing efficient movements. Please make sure you ask questions as we go so you are very clear on how to do the drills. Coach Goals for This Clinic: 1. Every player leaves thoroughly understanding all of the FeedForwards in bold, underline, italic font below. 2. Every player gets 100+ reps of serving and 100+ reps serve receive with deliberate focus on technique. 3. In this clinic talk less, hit more! Make good use of positive peer praise when someone is doing something technically well. This is MUCH better than talking it to them. 4. Coach, really get that serve receive is NOT passing. Serve receive is much more like digging. When passing a player can do things wrong with too much extraneous movement and still get it to the setter. But, in serve receive the ball is coming faster, not to her, and there is no room or time for unnecessary movements. 5. Serve receive can teach passing, but passing does NOT teach serve receive. Therefore in your team practices there is no need to do a passing drill. Do serve receive instead, and you ll beat teams who practice passing. Coach Note #1 At No Limits we don t teach pass with your legs because you don t pass with your legs, you pass with your forearms. Passing/serve receive is hard enough as it is, so we want to keep irrelevant muscle groups out of the equation. This will be new to some coaches and players; therefore, watch college volleyball and see that NO ONE passes with their legs anymore that is an antiquated, retired way of looking at that skill. In modern volleyball, we put our platform out and lift about 3 inches most of the time. 1
(NOTE: Please do not think that you should not use your legs AT ALL when passing the ball. In order to push the ball to the setter without swinging your arms at it, you must raise the ball with your legs). Coach Note #2 At No Limits we stress GO! more than talking about going. Contrary to old school outlooks, communication is NOT the most important thing in volleyball. GOING is WAY, WAY more important than talking about going or wondering who will talk, then going. The best on defense and in serve receive have a GO! mentality, not a let s consider and talk about who will go mentality. That is not even subtle, it s a huge paradigm difference! A hard serve leaves the server s hand and hits forearms in 0.7 seconds. Is that enough time to talk and wonder, then execute one of the most difficult skills in sports? Yes, there are times when it helps to talk; but, the essential skill, the essence of being great, is to just go and get your arms angled to the setter. We want NO barriers, delays or angst to affect GO! We want NO unnecessary rules imposed on serve receivers. All they really have to get right is that their arms are angled correctly. Let your coaching reflect that this is a hard skill and you want to LET it be as simple as possible. Advanced Coaching 4.0 tip: de-emphasize talking about stuff and demanding body postures and emphasize knowing/scouting server/hitter tendencies, reading/going early, controlling breathing/emotions, trusting yourself to just play, and knowing that all I have to get right is having my arms angled to the setter. Coach Note #3 For serving power, the order of importance is: 1. The whip, accelerating the hand, and popping the ball [not swinging a slow, consistent speed with no explosion at the end], 2. Having a stiff wrist & hand, starting sideways and rotating to generate hand speed. 3. The goal is to move as little as possible but generate as much hand speed as possible. Less movement makes it easier to achieve accuracy. Most of your serving coaching will be in eliminating unnecessary motions. LET it be that simple for them, please! 2
Evaluate 3 Minutes Have them get into partners and pass for 2 minutes then serve for 1 minute (this tells you where they are and what your main focuses will be). Serving Progression 15 minutes Get clarity on ONE FeedForward at a time; show it, do it. Usually, this is the order. Spend one or two minutes on each one as they serve at Hula Hoops from both sides of the net. Have everyone split up on both sides (one ball cart on each side), have them serve at hula hoops (usually placed in positions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 rarely in position 6). Have the players start serving from the 10-foot line and casually moving back when consistent getting the ball over. Walk around and critique each player s form. Serving FeedForwards 10 minutes ABCs A= Start holding the ball comfortably in front of your hitting shoulder with your non-dominate hand B= Press & Step (If your right hand is your dominant hand, then the ball should be in your left hand with your left foot forward and all the weight on your right foot; therefore, you can step with your left.) C= Swing (Make sure that your elbow on your serving arm is above your ear and it does not drop when you step and swing.) Have the players get into partners, split up (one partner on each side of the court), have them serve aggressively to their partner. Additional FeedForwards Short Press It s not really a toss because the ball is so light, just press it gently. It only needs to go a few inches higher than you can reach. Tornado! Start mostly sideways and rotate as you swing ONE step with your front foot Push with the back foot, step with the front 3
Coach, this is huge to get right and most kids won t do it be persistent and re-teach until they have it! Stiff wrist, stiff hand and Big, wide hand The whip! POW! Yes, this is the most important, but presenting it after they have the rest of the foundation often has everything fall into place. Many kids will naturally swing with a lever arm pulling their hand back first rather than pulling their elbow back first. You ll have to demo this multiple times. Accelerate your hand into the ball and say Pow! as you try to explode the ball with your palm! Step at the hoop, palm at the hoop Many naturally swing across their chest like throwing a softball. But in serving you can either stop on contact or follow through on the same side Ready, GO!, Shuffle-Shuffle 10 minutes GO! is the most important thing in volleyball and for sure the most important thing when passing or receiving a serve. You have to GO! So, in this first drill everyone will GO! after the ball Demonstrate with you and one player. Get the player in ready position and have all players who are watching mimic this. o Medium high o Balls of your feet o Feet alive o Arms comfortably out in front o Palms comfortably up o You hold the ball, turn deliberately to one side or the other to show where you will toss, and the player moves BEFORE you toss, shuffles to the ball, and passes back. Coach, they don t need to be low, medium-high is the most efficient ready posture when in serve receive. They do it with a partner: o A tosses 6 to B, then B tosses 6 to A. o As a player tosses he/she says, GO! Often the ball is within 8 feet of you and you can get there with 1 or 2 shuffles. Shuffling is better than stepping because you can stay looking like a passer and be totally ready when you get to the ball 4
Demonstrate Shuffle-Shuffle Don t coach passing form yet, just reward their impulse to move BEFORE the toss and go with enthusiasm! Receiving Ball From Over Net, Goal = Reps 10 minutes Make this work with the number of kids you have. Groups of 3. Tosser, passer, target. Can have 3 linear groups on 1 court if you have 9 kids. If you have 12 kids, then passers alternate. Toss hard, 2-hand overhand, over the net. Pass to target who rolls it to tosser. Passer focus Arms out early. o Demonstrate that this means By the time the ball gets to the net your arms should be out almost flat, then all you do is lift them a few inches. Rotate about every 8 balls, but NOT after every contact. Receiving Serves 10 minutes One side takes turn serving, other side has 3 in serve receive. Let servers stand where they need to in order to serve it over the net. Often this is when you teach to always serve over the net If you find yourself hitting in the net, all you have to do it hit under the ball more (below the equator). Don t try to serve 1 inch over the net, strive for antenna-high. Coach, roam around and coach servers and receivers. Again, do NOT rotate every contact. Let the receivers pass for 2 or 3 minutes to get in a groove and so you have time to correct technique. Scrimmage with Bonus Points 30 minutes By now, you will know what this group needs emphasized. Often the bonus points can be awarded for Stepping with the front foot ONLY and NO extra movement when you pass. So, in this game, one rally could have 3 points awarded make it a big deal when they get a bonus point. Get a parent to keep score so you can just say Bonus point! and keep roaming and coaching. 5
Closing Have a player volunteer to demonstrate and explain simple passing. Have a player volunteer to demonstrate and explain how to serve. Have them partner-share about what specific technique makes the biggest difference for them. And, teach them how to do self-talk BEFORE a skill to remind how to be successful. 6