Breaking It Down: Training Ideas & Tools for Skill Development

with Kirsten Bernthal Booth,
Creighton University Head Coach from 2003 to 2025;
2024 Elite Eight;
2024 Big East Coach of the Year;
2024 AVCA West Region Coach of the Year;
2024 Season was 32 -3 and 18 - 0 in Conference;
11th consecutive year as Regular Season Champions (2024);
10x Big East Tournament Champions (a Big East record);
14x NCAA appearances;
2016 Elite Eight;
2016 VolleyballMag.com National Coach of the Year;
3x National Coach of the Year;
6x Conference Coach of the Year;
5x AVCA East Region Coach of the Year;
613 Career Wins (233 losses);
all-time wins leader at Creighton (502 Wins at Creighton)

Fundamental skill development is important to develop players at all levels. By breaking down skills of the fundamental elements of volleyball, you're able to train your players to be more efficient on the court. With the trend in our sport leaning toward "whole game" training, Creighton's Kirsten Bernthal Booth explores why she still spends time breaking down skill development into phases.

Booth demonstrates several of her "out of the box" training concepts she uses in her program. You'll see multiple drills and in-depth ideas including passing, blocking, and setting that will enhance the development of your players. She provides numerous ideas for player/coach drills, partner drills, and conditioning drills. This training regimen to develop individual skill sets is part of what has helped lead Creighton University to national prominence.

Each drill comes with insight from Booth regarding how athletes should perform at a basic level as well as how to progress the drills to more advanced performance. She also demonstrates how simple and inexpensive props can be implemented to develop skill mastery.

Breakdown Drills to Become a Better Passer

Booth emphasizes that platform and feet movement are equally important to become a confident passer. She presents a progression of passing drills that:

• Train quick feet movement with the use of resistance
• Train drop-step passing and angle passing to target
• Emphasize the isolation of skills while performing drills involving a variety of game-like tempos

Breakdown of Defensive and Offensive Skills

Booth emphasizes drills that not only break down the elements of the skill, but also emphasize the conditioning element to increase muscle memory. Multiple drills are introduced through a progression, from the footwork needed to the complete element. You'll see how to:

• Train blockers to use hands as a powerful tool for defense
• Train hitters to "fly" the ball off of the hands of blockers in order to increase their offensive threat on the court
• Train setters to be more peripheral in order to make quick decisions that will enable the team to use multiple offensive options

Booth suggests that coaches introduce different scenarios using different tempos in practice as much as possible to encourage players to have confidence and strong decision making skills on the court.

The drills in this video will provide you with the knowledge and tools to implement them immediately!

Produced at the 2016 AVCA Annual Convention in Columbus, OH.

47 minutes. 2017.