Best 3 Volleyball Passing Drills For Beginners
I’ve learned through recent experience working with elite coaches that repetitive practice is the key to developing a quality passing game. For example, if you’re going to learn how to receive a solid float serve; how to receive an effective jump spin serve; how to receive a short serve? You must develop good fundamentals and repetition. With that said, let’s examine several drills that I highly recommend for all levels of players – including those of you that may be less than experienced and are looking for ways to develop your passing skills. I used these drills myself when I was an inexperienced player, and I’m currently using them again to help maintain my high level of passing ability. As a coach for youth, you’ll likely find these drills to be very beneficial.
1. Wall Passing Drill
By now, you’ve probably seen the wall passing drills. This is one of the best drills you can use to create a better receiver in the field before a practice. Players can perform these drills as much as they want and focus on their own technical weaknesses. This is definitely a monotonous exercise, but it works!
What you’ll need:
• A wall.
• Enough open space around the wall to allow for movement.
• A volleyball.
The Main Part:
Passing Against the Wall:
• Player tosses the ball against the wall.
• After the ball bounces off the wall, the player makes a forehand pass to the wall.
• Repeat for the desired amount of reps (e.g., 15-20).
Tips:
• Choose a spot on the wall (i.e., a brick or area) to aim for as the player’s target. You can even mark the target with a circle.
• Try to hit the same spot on the wall every time you pass the ball.
• If you miss your target, there is nothing wrong with that. Just keep practicing until you are consistent enough to apply your skills to the actual playing surface.
Example video of wall passing drill.
2. Russian Passing Drill
The next passing drill is called The Russian Passing Drill and is another fun drill. Although the Russian Passing Drill is relatively easy to do, it does require 3 players to do it. The player in the middle who performs the pass will primarily work on their footwork while the other players move back and forth across the court. This drill provides a great opportunity for the players to develop their endurance. Here’s how to do it and some examples of different variations.
Setup:
• Line up the three players in a row with a distance between the players of approximately 16 feet.
• Stand in the middle of the players with the player performing the pass facing one of the players.
Execution:
• The first player tosses or spikes the ball to the middle player.
• The middle player then bumps the ball back to the player who tossed/spiked the ball.
• The middle player then turns around and the second player throws/spikes the ball to him/her.
Continue the pattern as the ball travels down the line.
Video example of Russian passing drill.
3. Butterfly Passing Drill
Next in our passing drills section, we’ll talk about the butterfly passing drill. However, the butterfly passing drill requires more players than the previous drills. The butterfly passing drill is one of the best team warm-up drills that you can include in your practices as a coach. One of the best things about this drill is that all the players will be involved in each aspect of the game, from serving to setting to passing! You can begin with serving a float serve and then transition to a spin serve so that the passers can become familiar with receiving both types of serves.
Setup:
• Set up two lines of servers on each side of the court starting in position 1.
• Each side of the net will have 2 players who are setting, and 2 players who are passing in zone 5.
Execution:
• The first server serves the ball over the net to the passer on the other side.
• The passer passes the ball to the setting player in the middle of the net.
• The player near the net then sets the ball.
• The player who is serving goes to the passing player and the passing player goes to the setting player.
• Continue this process for a while and then switch the serving positions from 1 to 5.
• Also, the players who are receiving the ball will switch the zones from 5 to zone 1.
These are the 3 fundamental receiving drills that I would recommend most of all for beginners and as (a coach) you can easily add these drills to your next practice to help improve your teams’ reception! If you have any other receiving drills (examples), please let me know.