Thursday, January 3, 2013

Defensive Volleyball Drills


Volleyball is a sport where every player must learn to be both an offensive and a defensive player. In order to be a good defender, the player must know the best way to dig the ball (prevent the ball from hitting the ground on their side of the net). To get ready for game situations, coaches will run defensive volleyball drills to help develop the skills needed to be a good defender. There are many defensive volleyball drills a coach can use, including some of the drills here.
Perhaps one of the most basic defensive volleyball drills is the jump to block drill. This drill will teach defenders the correct way to move when jumping to dig a ball at the net. To set up, the coach will stand on a chair on one side of the net, holding the ball in different positions, simulating a ball traveling over the net. It is the defenders job to jump and be in the position best suited to blocking the ball. When the defender can demonstrate the proper way to block the ball the coach is currently holding, the coach simply moves it to a different position, usually to the right or left, so the defender can position him or herself for a ball coming from that direction. While simple, this is one of the most important and fundamental volleyball drills a coach can run for the team.
Touch ten is a defensive volleyball drill that will help build the coordination and anticipation of players. As an added bonus, it is good for working on the defensive player's stamina. The object is to set up a single defender on one side of the net, with a setter and 3 front line hitters on the other side of the net. The coach tosses the ball to the setter, who sets it for one of the hitters. The hitter then spikes the ball over the net. It is the defender's job to ensure that the ball never lands on the ground. This will often require moving throughout the entire side of the defender's side of the court, since he or she is defending entirely alone. This defensive volleyball drill is called touch ten because it is common to rotate players after the defender can successfully dig 10 balls in a row.
The dig and roll is another of the fundamental volleyball drills. In this drill, the defender stands in the middle of the court on his or her side of the net. The coach stands on the other side of the net. The coach then hits the ball to either side of the defender. The defender must learn to read the body language of the coach in order to anticipate which side the ball is going to go. After successfully digging the ball, the defender then rolls to the right and gets back into the center position. This drill will work on the defender's sense of timing and anticipation.
These are only a few of the defensive volleyball drills that a coach will want to run for the team. Running these volleyball drills will ensure that it is easy for a player to successfully dig the volleyball from any number of situations. The more times a coach runs a drill, the more likely that the defender's responses to a play will become automatic, allowing the rest of the team to know exactly how the ball will be played. With a solid set of defensive volleyball skills, the team will make it that much harder for their opponents to ever score on them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5568342

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