Best of Club Volleyball: Libero Training

with Anne Kordes,
Associate Director of KIVA Volleyball Club;
former University of Louisville Head Coach; 2015 ACC Champions;
2015 ACC Coach of the Year - her third coach of the Year honor at Louisville, also earning the award as the Big East (2012) and American Athletic Conference (2013) Coach of the Year;
2010 and 2011 USA Select National Team Lead Coach

Having a great libero is a tremendous asset to any team. They can energize an entire team and turn a match around quickly with their gutsy play. Anne Kordes delivers a comprehensive video that serves as a critical library of drills for any coach wanting to develop the libero position for his or her team.

Kordes explains the value of the libero position and how to select your libero from your best defenders. She covers five areas of focus with respect to playing defense and the libero position:

• Ball Control
• Passing
• Defensive Technique
• Out-of-System Setting
• Serving

This video goes into detail about how coaches at every level can develop technically strong defensive players. Coach Kordes uses a group of defensive specialists from KIVA to demonstrate over 35 drills to use to improve your team's defensive play. Isolated drills are balanced with team-based drills that focus on situational awareness and game speed to cover nearly every aspect of player development.

Better Ball Control

Kordes emphasizes the importance of posture and balance, and demonstrates how they correlate to better ball control. She goes through an entire series of shuffling and passing progressions that create movement patterns and forced footwork designed to increase passing effectiveness and efficiency. No detail is overlooked, as Kordes discusses how platform angles and posture changes are fluid, and how they should be adjusted based on the location of the pass.

Individual and partner drills begin the series on ball control, followed by team ball control drills to keep more players active and engaged. Fast-paced drills are demonstrated at slower paces, as well as at "game speed" to give viewers a firm understanding of how the drill should run.

Several scoring methods are used for both incentive and accountability. Kordes demonstrates drills that use targets that must be hit in order to continue the drill, as well as ways to incorporate competition into practices. Whether it's a cooperative drill designed to reach a certain number of "correct reps," or having serving competitions based on location and speed of the serve, Kordes finds ways to keep even the most technically-focused drills a competition.

Passing Fundamentals

Kordes explains the differences in playing the various back row positions as well as moving into the attack zone to be a successful passer. She discusses the subtlety of playing each side of the court and the various techniques necessary to be a strong passing team.

Platform control and posture are emphasized, as she introduces "small drills" to engage players in the technical aspect of passing. Kordes provides a situational analysis of platform angles and demonstrates how they change based on where the ball is coming from, where the passer is located on the court, and where their desired target is.

Run Your Offense With Your Libero When Your Setter Makes First Contact

Kordes provides a series of drills to help your libero learn how to set up the offense when your opponent attacks your setter. She discusses tips on how to have the setter and libero communicate to successfully utilize your hitters.

From a simple warm-up passing circuit to advanced, dynamic scoring drills, you will find countless ways to incorporate the drills, techniques, and tactics presented in this video into your daily practices and matches. Coach Kordes breaks down the skills needed to be a successful libero, and the in-game strategies you can use to maximize the defensive and ball control efforts of your team.

137 minutes. 2017.