Lyndsey Oates: Group Training, Goal Setting, Drills for Correcting Errors + Adding Pressure to Practice Drills

with Lyndsey Oates,
University of Northern Colorado Head Women's Coach;
5x NCAA Tournament appearances;
8x Big Sky Conference champions;
4x Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year (2009, 2011, 2014, 2019)

Getting your team better at first ball side outs is a big part of winning volleyball games at all levels. The ability to attack on first ball is a key in having success for your program.

Using three different competitive drills, Northern Colorado head coach Lyndsey Oates demonstrates ways you can improve your team's first ball side out ability. Also included in this video are some drills to improve your players' reaction times, and the ability to control a ball that is passed or saved out of system.

Digging and Setting a Ball Out of System

Coach Oates teaches how to save a ball when a dig is performed. She explains the teaching points she emphasizes for the reaction to the dig, which include:

• Turning and facing the action on the court.
• Being ready for second contact, no matter where the ball is placed.
• Watching teammates platform so you can be going in that direction.
• Pursuing a mis-hit ball quickly to make a great play.

Practice Segments

Practice begins with warm-up passes on one court while Coach Oates takes her setters and works on staying neutral when setting to keep the defense guessing. A major emphasis is put on the quickness of the sets. Next, focus turns to reaction time drills with players facing the wall and a teammate throwing tennis balls over their head to the wall for the player to catch.

Coach Oates brings the team together for some 6-on-6 competitive drills that work on all aspects of the game. However, the biggest emphasis is on the first ball side out. The first team drill is seven rotations of first serve side out. Oates challenges her team to have seven consecutive first serve side outs. The next team competitive drill is called Runner, which is designed to have players end a run of serves. The final competitive team drill is five point games in each rotation. This drill allows you to see which rotations are better than others.

If you are looking for some new competitive drills that focus on attacking a serve receive and finding strengths in your rotations, this is the video for you. Coach Oates does an outstanding job of showing how to focus on attacking on first ball.

95 minutes. 2021.