Correcting Bad Habits & Poor Technique: Simple Movements of Serving, Passing, Hitting, Blocking & Digging

with Ryan Theis,
University of Florida Head Coach;
Marquette University Head Coach from 2014 to 2024;
led Marquette to the school's first Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2018;
2017 Big East Coach of the Year;
2017 Big East Coaching Staff of the Year;
Ohio University Head Coach from 2008 to 2013;
2x MAC Coach of the Year (2009, 2013)

Habits, good or bad, form early in volleyball players. Bad habits can be difficult to change, which holds back players and teams from becoming the best they can be. The ability to help your players correct bad volleyball habits can help set them on the path to greater success. This video featuring Marquette's Ryan Theis will provide you with the advice you need in order to correct some of the most common bad habits found in volleyball players.

Coach Theis first explains how the lack of consistency in training effective techniques at the earliest ages creates challenges for players and coaches later on in their careers. Maximizing a player's performance requires coaches to recognize bad habits and provide specific ways to replace them with good volleyball habits that can be reinforced.

Digging and Passing Corrections

Next, Theis describes common mistakes made in general and specific digging and passing techniques and ways to correct them. This includes teaching players more optimal digging body and elbow/hand position, along with a partner warm-up series for improving right back, left back and off blocker digging on tipped, hard-driven and deep balls. He also shares insights on better serve receive posture and first step efficiency for passers, along with drills to create more effective passing habits.

Blocking, Hitting, and Serving Corrections

Coach Theis then identifies bad habits in blocking, and provides ways to teach more ideal spacing from the net, footwork for blocking different types of attacks, and coordination of shoulder and hand position when blocking. You'll also learn insights into identifying bad habits in approaches and arm swing mechanics for hitting and serving, along with several drills that can instill correct techniques. For example, Theis provides two partner drills involving a two-hand ball toss to self followed by a spike to a partner 30 or 60 feet away to teach simplified motion, optimal hand separation, opening up, shoulder rotation and hand finish.

In this video, Coach Theis shares an approach to successfully identify and correct bad habits in your players. The video includes 12 individual and partner drills that target specific solutions to common bad habits in all of the main volleyball skills that are employed today by the Marquette women's volleyball team. Implementing these methods can help promote good habits starting at the beginning of a volleyball player's career and provide solutions to bad habits in even the most experienced athletes.

51 minutes. 2021.