Best of Club Volleyball: Team-Oriented Ball Control Drills

with Tanya Jarvis,
Orlando/Tampa Volleyball Academy Coach;
Bishop Moore Catholic (FL) Head Coach;
2015 Florida 5A High School State Champions and Florida 5A High School Coach of the Year;
2012 MaxPreps National Coach of the Year

Volleyball success is based on the foundation of quality ball control in all phases of the game. Through a progression of individual, partner, 3-person and team drills, Tanya Jarvis demonstrates how to guide your team to improve its ball control by implementing strategies for encouraging proper form and court position for passing and setting. Your team will also improve conditioning, team communication, and learn to react to different game-like scenarios.

Throughout this video, Coach Jarvis provides tips for teaching players to quickly acquire better ball control skills, for keeping players engaged, and for using these drills to get the most out of your limited practice time. The video includes 27 drills (including variations) that can be adjusted to player skill level.

Individual Movement Series - Three Phases of Ball Control

When developing ball control, Jarvis takes her players through three phases of training. These phases feature drills involving getting to balls more quickly and learning to track balls that go over the head. In each phase, players practice passing a controlled pass to themselves while emphasizing proper ready position, body balance, and acceleration to the ball.

Partner Series

This series of four drills teaches players how to work together in tossing, passing, setting and digging balls in a controlled fashion through progressively more difficult actions. Jarvis shows how to use this series to reinforce the right form and continuous communication between teammates, along with improving the ability to transition between different skills.

3-Person Passing Series

The third part of this video shows how to develop a player's ability to shuffle short and long distances at a fast pace and then pass balls using good form throughout the drills. Coach Jarvis uses the last part in this series to incorporate dives or rolls with proper passing and ball control techniques through a fun, competitive drill.

Net Series

In this series, Jarvis uses three- to four-person drills to help players get "comfortable with the uncomfortable" by practicing how to play balls successfully out of the net, along with developing more precision in their different platform angles by controlled passing over and under the net.

Shuffle Series

Next, Jarvis moves to three drills that incorporate training in shuffle movement, body positioning to pass in the center line, and adjustment to pass short balls. In the first drill, a coach tosses a ball over the net to have players shuffle to the left or right to pass it to a setter target; in the second, players move to have the tossed ball bounce between their legs; and in the third, players perform knee drives to slide into position to properly pass short balls.

Butterfly Series

This series incorporates a progression of drills to train players to hone their skills in passing, setting and hitting under control using a butterfly configuration and emphasizing continuous ball movement during each drill. This approach engages players to transition smoothly between skills as the drills progress to reflect game play.

Out-of-System Series

Coach Jarvis uses this series to teach players how to adjust to set out-of-systems balls using their hands or platform and also hitting to specific zones during out-of-system plays. Throughout this series, Jarvis gives specific tips on passing and setting location for out-of-system balls as well as pointers for hitters.

Cross-Court Pepper

The video ends with a cross-court pepper drill that focuses on controlling digs from a cross-court spike and transitioning to counter-attack. This drill helps all players become more adept at each core ball control skill, with a variation that allows for position-specific training.

In the final variation, teams compete in a competitive cross-court pepper that incorporates all of the principles taught throughout the different series to build the confidence and consistency for each player to reach their potential in maximizing ball control.

If you want to systematically train your players to get better at ball control, then take advantage of this video by Coach Jarvis to increase your team's passing and digging abilities, which will translate to greater success on the court.

80 minutes. 2017.