Jennifer Petrie: Fast-Paced, Competitive Drills, Push Attack + Passing, Serving & Footwork for Your Hitters/Hitting Placement

with Jennifer Petrie,
University of San Diego Head Coach;
4x Sweet Sixteen appearances;
20x NCAA Tournament appearances;
6x West Coast Conference Coach of the Year ('04, '08, '10, '13, '17, '19);
over 425 career wins

San Diego's veteran coach Jennifer Petrie opens the doors to one of her team's practice sessions from the 2020 season in order to give you a glimpse of what they do in training to play at a high level in competition. In this video, you'll learn a variety of fast-paced and competitive drills that will train your athletes to be better in a wide range of volleyball skills.

Getting Started

Practice begins with stretching and mental drills to prepare players for upcoming events during the season. Next, Coach Petrie gets her players into a 5v5 short court drill where teams work on pushing the ball into open areas, while working on coverage of hitters and blockers on both sides.

Passing to setters is the next skill covered, with athletes focusing on using a good platform, footwork, and reading the ball from the serve. This exercise starts as an individual drill, but a second player is added to work on passes in the seams. After that, athletes receive passes off of a block to attack. An emphasis is placed on footwork after the pass to the setter, making sure player get correct positioning for an attack. The drill continues to the help position, using the same route to the attack position.

Drill Work

6v6 drills are a big part of San Diego's routine. The first is a push attack drill where teams work on their coverage, defensively and offensively, of a push attack. After that, the squad goes 2v6, working on pin blocking and short side versus long side coverage. This is a great communication and transition drill. Prior to a break, players go through a serving game where they score points from hitting into the correct zones.

Once break is up, Coach Petrie directs her athletes to play a 6v6 game where they must score points 24 and 25 with a serve, otherwise they go back to 21. Practice concludes with a great fast-paced cardio game called USD Wash. This drill allows hitters to work on transition multiple times during a rally, coverage skills, and more.

If you're looking for a video that has competitive drills, look no further. Coach Petrie shows how to run a fast-paced practice while improving passing, footwork, and hitting placement.

123 minutes. 2021.