As a coach trying to put together a winning team, your job is to find players with the best all-around skills through tryouts. One of the best ways to do this is putting players through a series of drills that test their general volleyball skills. Tryout drills can help you determine individual players’ skills, strengths and weaknesses.
Serving Relay
Serving is one of the most fundamental skills in volleyball, so running tryout players through this drill will help determine whether players are ready to compete on your team. Line up all participants in two lines along the serving line. On the whistle, the first player in each line serves the ball over the net, then sprints to retrieve the ball. If the player missed on her serve, she must retrieve the ball and serve it again as quickly as possible. After a successful serve, the player retrieves the ball and hands it to the next person in line. Continue the drill until all players have served at least once.
One-on-One Drill
An easy way to gauge players’ hitting and blocking abilities within the same drill is the one-on-one hitting and blocking drill. Have three players on each side of the net facing each other. One side of players is hitters and the other side is blockers. The blockers start with a ball and toss it over the other net to the hitters, who try to hit the ball over the net. The blockers run to the net and attempt to perform a block. The players then switch roles, with the old blockers becoming the new hitters, and so forth. Have players repeat the drill at least five times per side.
Pepper
Pepper is a simple drill involving two or more players that incorporates many of the basic skills used in volleyball such as setting, digging and hitting. Two players face each other standing at least 10 feet apart and hit the ball back and forth to each other using proper technique such as with the forearms for a hit or with the fingertips for a set. Players should challenge each other and try and cause the other person to drop or miss the ball. You can increase the number of players and have them hit the ball in a circle or square if there are enough players.
Member Comments