All Access Volleyball Practice with Dan Fisher

with Dan Fisher,
University of Pittsburgh Head Coach;
5x Final Four (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025);
2024 AVCA Division I National Coach of the Year;
6x ACC Volleyball Champions (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024);5x AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year (2017, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2025);
3x ACC Coach of the Year (2017, 2018, 2024);
Concordia -Irvine University Head Coach from 2011 to 2012;2012 NAIA National Championship;
2012 NAIA Tournament Coach of the Year;
2011 NAIA National Championship Runner-up;
2011 NAIA/AVCA National Coach of the Year;
US Women's National Team Head Coach;
2015 Pan American Games - Toronto (Gold), 2016 Pan-American Cup (Bronze), 2023 Pan American Cup, Mexico (Gold)

Pitt's all-time winningest head coach Dan Fisher invites you into his gym for a series of preseason practices. These two-a-day practices feature morning practices consisting of teaching technique with a lot of reps, and afternoon sessions that focus on game play.

Throughout the video, Fisher makes drills as game-like as possible to keep the intensity level high and the effort and energy level similar to that of a game or match point. He engages players by first describing each drill and the goal of the drill. He then allows his team to execute the drill and providing timely feedback.

Day 1 - Morning Practice

Basic fundamentals are the core to a successful program, and that's exactly where Coach Fisher starts this practice. He begins with setting and serving drills to get his players lots of touches. The video continues with some out-of-system hitting, as well as reps for setters and middles.

You'll also see how Fisher uses hitting lines to train his attackers. This allows you to isolate outside, middle, and right side attackers to teach and correct technique both in-system and out-of-system. Ladder serving drills allow for service progressions to escalate with speed and intensity for each successful attempt.

Day 1 - Afternoon Practice

The afternoon practice focuses on blocking and running a faster tempo attack better. Blockers need to be in sync with each other to slow down the opposing offense. Fisher emphasizes the key components for successful blocking. You'll see short wash games that encourage competition and focused intensity.

Coach Fisher divides the court into three areas. In the first court, he's specifically working with setters on setting a faster tempo when out-of-system. On the next two courts, players work on out-of-system setting. During this sequence, the assistant coach teaches the fundamentals of read defense. The third court is also a dig/set court, with the hitters digging with control and the off hitters attempting to fake a back-row attack and jump set from behind the 10-foot line.

Day 2 - Morning Practice

The focus shifts to defense and the science behind what makes a great defender. The majority of practice is done in stations to maximize the amount of reps. Each station had a different drill or a different way of teaching the skills of digging and blocking.

Your players will learn how the hitter's arm movements dictate how they are swinging and where to prepare for the return.

Coach Fisher shows how he trains a step block. You will see the technical side of using hands correctly along with proper footwork. He also shows you how to train the triple block. He teaches players how to work together to form a closed block and creates few hitting options for an opponent. The last segment of the morning session focuses on serving using the Flean Ladder Drill and then finishes with game situation serving while trying to add pressure to the servers.

Day 2 - Afternoon Practice

Fisher and his staff focus on defensive transition, defending the middle of the court, and the science behind great defensive strategies. A middle has 180 degrees of hitting options. Coach Fisher gives great tips on learning how to read the block, read the hitter's arm, and move with purpose. You'll also see how to focus your defense to play line shots and angle shots off the hitter.

The team warms up with the butterfly drill, some floor routine drills and, after spending a little bit of time on hitting lines, they jump right into 6-on-6 game play. One of the games they play is Virus, where the coach initiates a poor first touch and the team has to play it out from there. It focuses on better handling out-of-system play.

Improving Your Team's Mental Game

Championship teams set themselves apart by how they deal with adversity and pressure. This session is about players learning about themselves from a sports psychologist. Athletes learn how to develop a better coping mechanism individually and as a team during a match, or certain parts of the season. Dr. Conte talks about the importance of the words that we use to describe things and how we can make ourselves better people just by changing the way we self-talk. Learn about words that you should avoid and also how your players can make their self talk-better. Dr. Conte uses examples that allow players to come together through problem solving to achieve higher levels of play and develop their own team culture.

This video from Coach Fisher will help you figure out a practice plan for the preseason while training your players to be technically sound.

466 minutes (5 videos) 2017.

All Access videos are designed to allow viewers from all over the world to see how successful coaches run their practices in a "live" practice setting. All Access videos allow viewers to see the practices un-edited and in real-time. You will see how top coaches run their drills, interact with their team and staff, how they motivate their team, the cue words they use, the atmosphere of the practice and how practices are structured from day to day. Many coaches visit successful colleges and high schools to watch practice. But if you live out of state or out of the country, visiting another coach's gym can be costly. That's why we created the All Access Practice Series of v