When you're working with eighth-grade volleyball athletes, you want to prepare them for the competition of high school sports. Focus on skills and drills that will hone their volleyball fundamentals while also advancing their technique. Introduce plays, blocking and overhand serves, and allow some athletes to start specializing in specific positions. This will enhance the skill level and athletic experience of these middle-school players.
Overhand Serving Toss
When volleyball players enter high school, they must be able to successfully serve the ball overhand. Many younger players don't have the strength or skill to serve overhand, but by the time a player reaches eighth grade, he should be ready to focus on the skill.
The most important part of the overhand serve is the toss. A poorly tossed ball will throw the server off-balance, leading to a poorly hit ball. Have your players practice the toss over and over for several minutes at every practice. When practicing the toss, players shouldn't use their hitting arm at all, but focus only on the motion of the toss, allowing the ball to rise into the air and fall directly to the ground.
Instruct right-handed players to stand with their left foot staggered in front of their right foot and left-handed players to stand with their right foot staggered in front of their left foot. Hold a ball in the non-dominant hand, extending the arm in front of the body from the shoulder. Toss the ball up into the air approximately 18 to 24 inches, allowing the ball to fall directly to the floor. When the ball hits the floor, it should land in line with the hitting arm, just inside of the lead foot. Noting where the ball lands will help players recognize whether their serving toss was a good toss, or whether it would require excessive leaning or reaching to effectively hit the ball. Continue practicing only the toss for several minutes before progressing to a serving drill.
See the Defense
When players reach high school, most will specialize as a front row hitter, a back row specialist or a setter, so it's a good idea to allow eighth-graders to gravitate toward drills in a specialized area. Setting, or overhead passing, often results in two-touch fouls or lifts, so if you have several players who consistently perform overhead passes without error, start drilling them as setters to prepare them for high school competition.
Setters need to see the defensive court before they set the ball so they can make quick decisions about which offensive play will result in a point scored. Split your girls into three lines: a setter's line, a tosser's line and a hitter's line. Keep the setters in the setter's line, but allow the other players to rotate between the other two lines. You should stand on the opposite side of the net.
When the tosser tosses the ball to the setter, hold up a hand sign for rock, paper or scissors, or any other commonly known hand signal. The setter has to look at the signal and call it out before setting the ball to the hitter. This requires the ability to see the court, think quickly and react fast.
Blocking Footwork
By eighth grade, it becomes clear which girls have experienced growth spurts that place them at an advantage to specialize in the front row. Teach your taller, front-row hitters how to perform correct blocking footwork.
Many young players don't understand the importance of proper blocking footwork. Even though it might seem simple to sidestep laterally to an oncoming ball, that becomes ineffective when players must cover a lot of ground to perform multi-player blocks. Teach your players to move properly across the court from one blocking position to the next by using correct blocking footwork that will get them to the ball faster.
Line up your blockers off the court on the left side of the net. The first player moves onto the court to the left front blocker position. When you yell "block," she jumps up in the air, pretending to block the ball, then immediately takes steps to the center blocker position as the next blocker steps onto the court at the left front blocker position. When you yell "block" again, both blockers jump into the air to mimic a block. Both of them then rotate to the next position, the center blocker stepping to the right, the left blocker stepping to the center, and a new blocker stepping onto the court in the left position. The players keep rotating through the blocking positions until all players have practiced three times. Then, perform the same exercise starting at the right side of the net and rotating to the left.
Focus on footwork throughout the drill. In the blocking position, both feet face forward to the opponent's court. When a player moves to the right, she should lead by taking a step with her right foot, rotating her foot so that it's parallel to the net, take a step with the left foot, then step with the right foot again, turning the foot to point to the opponent's court as she simultaneously rotates the left foot to point toward the opponent's court. Once both feet point to the opponent's court, she then can jump straight up to perform a block. When moving to the left, the same steps are taken, but she should lead with her left foot.
Member Comments