Preparing your middle-schoolers for a solid future in volleyball will make a world of difference.
Because they’re younger, it’s good to start out slower yet provide them with the basics that will make it easy for them to excel at the game as they go along.
What Are The Basics?
You will want to help your middle-schoolers become solid in the basics before moving onto more complicated stuff. What are the basics?
They are bump, set, and spike and, of course, teaching them how to understand positioning and control for hitting. The following drills make it easy to practice the important principles of the game of volleyball.
Top Volleyball Drills for Middle School
When an athlete learns the basics of their sport, it’s important that they learn them well.
They will be able to build on these skills as they go and become more advanced than they would otherwise.
The following are the top drills to work on to help you turn your middle-school volleyball team into stars:
Serving
You may be great at hitting and saving the ball from hitting the ground, but if you can’t serve, you’re bound to lose some points for your team. In order to help your team practice serving, separate them into teams of two.
You’ll have each pair take turns practicing serving each other.
They won’t be trying to play the game but rather simply hit the ball to each other through serves.
They can begin close to the net, and as they continue to serve successfully, they can back up further and further to the back serving line. If they drop the ball during these practice serves, they’ll need to start from the beginning again.
Passing
Passing is very important in volleyball as it can help to save your team from losing points to the opposing team. It also happens to be one of the trickiest parts of the game.
You’ll want to set up your team with three lines. You will be in charge of standing in the middle and starting the toss by passing it to one of the middle-schoolers.
That person will bump it back to the setter, and the setter will bump it to another person. Your goal is to keep it bumping along as long as possible. Have your students call it as they pass the ball to get them used to calling it during the game.
Setting
While not every team member is going to be setting, you still want your team to be well-versed in how to do it. Fan drills are a great option for when you want to teach your players how to take the setter position.
You’ll toss a high ball towards the player you’re working with on the setting drill, and they will hand it to where the hitter would be, at the end.
The one in the hitter’s position will catch the ball and bring it to the coach. Then they will get in line for setting. This helps to teach your team how to effortlessly transition into position and setting.
Spiking
Spiking may not be your priority, but it sure is a fun thing to practice. Spiking drills will make your students prepared for the game and provide them with the agility needed for a solid game experience. Your team will take turns approaching the net and wait for a set that they can follow through a spike. This exercise isn’t only good for spiking drills but also for allowing your setters to practice setting as well. Spikes can help your team get more points, so they are important to practice.
Scrimmage
What scrimmage game isn’t fun? It’s a great way to practice everything you’re learning and allows the players to have a bit of fun putting their skill into practice.
Queen of the Court is a favorite game where the players try to play as well as possible to win each game and keep playing the games as the coach switches out players through each set.
Final Thoughts
These basic tips will help your players get used to speed and agility on the court and learning how to control themselves and ball during the game. The first few drills allow for specific skill practice while a scrimmage helps players put those skills to use in a fun and friendly environment—as opposed to an actual game against an opposing team.
From spiking to setting and serving, there are basics that are important to learn at the beginning of learning a sport. Once a person completely understands them and has them down pat, it will be easier for them to become a solid and reliable player.
Just make sure your players are protecting their knees as it seems to be a common part of the body that get might get injured (more info here).
Who knows? One day your middle-school player may be the next big volleyball champion, and they could have you to thank.
