Skill Development Drills: Ball Control

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)

Typically, ball control work is a player's least favorite part of practice. Kirsten Bernthal Booth shows you how to engage players in this area with a variety of drills designed to challenge them physically and mentally. She includes drills and variations that will take your players' ball control to a whole new level and will introduce on-court problem solving. In addition to forearm passing, these drills will test the abilities of your players to set, tip, roll, swing with control and even use other body parts to win points!

Warm-up Drills
Help your players get a feel for the ball! Use these drills at the start of practice to get players working on their passing and setting techniques. Unlike conventional "toss, pass and catch" at a standstill, these drills are executed while players are moving, which makes them more game-like.

Looking for an innovative way to warm up while focusing on improving ball control? Coach Bernthal Booth shares a creative and fun partner game called "Golf" that requires players to complete different ball-handling challenges before advancing to the next hole. This drill challenges players' ball-handling skills while also requiring them to problem solve.

Pepper Drills
Discover a variety of pepper options including two-, three- and four-player options as well as an over-the-net series. As players collaborate to keep the ball in play, they're also working on a variety of ball-handling skills such as passing, setting, digging, tipping, rolling and attacking. Many of the drills involve progressions that are great for athletes of all skills levels, from beginners to the most advanced players. With no less than 20 variations, this presentation gives you enough drills to fill a season's worth of practice plans with fresh warm-up games!

Competitive Ball Control Drills
Learn five short-court competitions that can be used to start or finish practice. In these 2v2 drills, players play to win, not to keep the ball in play. Each game includes a series of progressions that require players to really focus on ball control as they contact the ball in different ways. These short-court drills emphasize problem-solving skills needed in the chaotic situations that often occur in evenly matched games.

One example of Coach Bernthal Booth's short-court competitions is the "Antenna Game." This creative set limits how players can contact the ball while working on defending and attacking different angles. It's a great drill to help players recognize and react to attacks from different angles, which is something that coaches often have difficulty getting players to understand.

Coach Bernthal Booth showcases a fresh set of drills to challenge and develop your players' ball-control skills while bringing an atmosphere of fun into practice. This presentation includes drills that can be adapted for all levels and is a must-have for coaches looking for new ways to teach basic volleyball skills.

50 minutes. 2015.