Watch as Coach Christi Posey explains, and players demonstrate this Hustle Pepper Drill. The players will buddy up and the drill starts with player #1 at the 10ft line starting with a swing and player […]
Middle Blockers Hand-on-Ball Contact Drill with Laura Johnson – McGill-Toolen Catholic HS (AL)
Watch as Coach Laura Johnson explains, and players demonstrate this drill for middle blockers that trains hand-on-ball contact. Coach wants players to focus on drawing their hands up fast and getting their elbows tight and […]
Setting: Efficient Feet with Zach Weinberg – Tennessee Tech Univ.
Watch as Coach Zach Weinberg explains, and players demonstrate this setting drill that trains efficient feet. This concept ensures the team will get the majority of killable balls. The Setter will first set themselves off […]
Point Blank Defense with Kellen Petrone – Univ. of Pittsburgh
Watch as Coach Kellen Petrone explains, and players demonstrate this point blank defense drill. This digging drill starts with a defender in the back corner, advancing a step closer to the hitter after every dig. […]
Create a Positive Self-Talk Routine with Zack Etter – Univ. of Massachusetts
Watch as Zack Etter discusses creating a positive self-talk routine when communicating with players. He recommends sharing positive information everyday as today’s players are surrounded by negativity. Create an environment that focuses on the positive […]
The Mental Approach to Coaching
By: Adam Sarancik Author of: Coaching Champions for Life “When evaluating your team, look first in the mirror with honest intent.” What is your mental approach to coaching? By your mental approach, I’m not asking […]
Blocking: Creating a Seal Over the Net with Mackenzie Chrisman – Northeastern Junior College
Watch as Coach Mackenzie Chrisman explains, and players demonstrate the Creating a Seal Over the Net Blocking Drill. The goal is to create a good seal over the net to limit a hitter’s options. Coach […]
Athletes’ Stressors & Resilience with Dr. Peter Ormsby – Univ. of North Carolina at Pembroke
Watch as Dr. Peter Ormsby discusses athlete stressors and resilience. Nearly 33% of athletes report mental health symptoms which is higher than general population samples. He will explain some of the types of stressors that […]
Hand Contact Drill with Simone Asque-Favia – Siena College
Watch as Coach Simone Asque-Favia explains, and players demonstrate how spinning the ball on tosses helps with their hand contact. Instead of tossing the ball with two hands, toss with one hand, through and up, […]
Prime Our Posture Drill with Kelly Hunter – Univ. of Nebraska
Watch as Coach Kelly Hunter explains, and players demonstrate the everyday ‘Prime Our Posture Drill’. The player will stand on a BOSU ball and hit the ball off a tilted board. She will do 50 […]
What Are We Doing to Create a Championship Culture? with Robert Grasso – La Jolla Country Day School (CA)
Robert Grasso asks the question, “What can we do to create a championship culture?” Every team has a culture – are you working to develop the kind of culture you want? Robert states that if […]
Best Versus Worst Performances
By: Dr. Colleen M. Hacker Originally Published in: Achieving Excellence Provided by: Human Kinetics By examining your best performances and comparing and contrasting them with your worst performances, you can identify the key elements of […]
Setters: Weighted Ball Wall Warmup with Adam Brewster – Tabor College
Watch as Coach Adam Brewster explains, and players demonstrate this weighted ball wall warmup progression. Players start by going from left to right hand and then setting into the wall, focusing on wrist movement and […]
What Does it Take to Hold Someone Accountable? with Stephen Mackey – 2Words Character Development
Watch as Stephen Mackey explains that it takes expectation, equipping, and encouragement to teach students and athletes to be accountable. You can have a very high standard but if you don’t teach them how to […]
Island Exile Drill with Jenny Glenn – Metropolitan State Univ. of Denver
Watch as Coach Jenny Glenn explains, and players demonstrate this competitive drill that is great for conditioning. This is a narrow court, timed drill and can be played 2v2 or 3v3. Players will compete for […]
Changing Up Your Favorite Drills with Renee Saunders – Skutt Catholic High School (NE)
Watch as Coach Renee Saunders explains, and players demonstrate breathing life into old drills. With 28 years of coaching experience, she has determined that it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel, but you can […]
There Is Nobility in the Struggle with Dr. Colleen Hacker, FNAP – Team USA / Pacific Lutheran Univ.
Watch as Dr. Colleen Hacker discusses mental toughness and how today’s environment and culture do not value and respect the struggles and difficulties that athletes encounter. Not achieving in any form of athletics may be […]
You Are What You Eat
By: Adam Sarancik Author of: Coaching Champions for Life One of the most dramatic and consequential shifts in my lifetime in the personal habits of people, including many athletes, is the casual way in which […]
Middles Must Find the Ball with Kate Wood – McGill-Toolen Catholic High School (AL)
Watch as Coach Kate Wood explains, and players demonstrate how they train middles to track the ball. Middles need to be able to come off the net, turn and find the ball, and enter back […]
Leadership: What Type of Team Do You Want to Be? with Robert Grasso – La Jolla Country Day School (CA)
Robert Grasso discusses how coaches must determine with their players what type of standards and values they must set that define their teams. It is important to ask questions so that players understand why they […]
Blocking Vision: Don’t Close Your Eyes with Rocco Lucci – Niagara Frontier VB Club
Watch as Coach Rocco Lucci explains, and players demonstrate this blocking vision drill. Blockers will first focus on ready position, making sure they are elbows-distance from the net. Keeping thumbs up and fingers out wide, […]
Dig or Die Drill with Nancy Dorsey – St. James Academy (KS)
Watch as Coach Nancy Dorsey explains, and the players demonstrate the Dig or Die Drill. This is a quick rep drill with two teams competing against each other to score 7 points. As the drill […]
Show Up and Don’t Miss the Game with Randy Fox – FoxPoint.Net
Watch as Randy Fox explains that leaders need to pursue excellence, not perfection, as perfection is not attainable or sustainable. He states that an individual can always be searching for the highest and best level […]
A Hard Conversation
By: Adam Sarancik Author of: Coaching Champions for Life “Face toward the problems” Sports afford coaches a wonderful opportunity to teach life lessons within the game for beyond the game. The first step in this […]
Jump Float Serve: Clean & Flat with Joe Sagula – (Retired) Univ. of North Carolina
Watch as Coach Joe Sagula explains, and players demonstrate a jump float serving drill. Coach applies elastic over the net and asks players to make a clean serve, hitting under the elastic and over the […]
Our Mission Coaching/Leading/Teaching Girls with Meghan Orgeman – Alexandria Area High School (MN)
Coach Meghan Orgeman discusses the mission of coaching, leading, and teaching girls. The highlights include these key points: Socialize our girls to be imperfect within a supportive network of people who care deeply for them. […]
3-Person Pepper Drills with Renee Saunders – Skutt Catholic High School (NE)
Watch as Coach Renee Saunders explains, and players demonstrate this 3-person pepper drill progression. In groups of three, players will rotate after 5 swings. This is great for hand control (thumb down, thumb up) and […]
Defensive Drill vs. Live Attacker & BOSU Ball with Kaylee Prigge – Univ. of Wyoming
Watch as Coach Kaylee Prigge explains this defensive drill with the defense vs. live attackers and a BOSU ball. This is a 20-minute drill with the defenders facing a three-ball sequence twice for a total […]
Pressure Serving Drills with Becky Edwards – Lancaster Central High School (NY)
Watch as Becky Edwards explains that every day before a game, they have a 5-minute serving warmup focusing on different types of serves. After the warmup, it is time for pressure serving, in which all […]
The Team! The Team! The Team!
By: Jamy Bechler Originally Published in The Leadership Playbook The old acronym of T.E.A.M. in which together everyone achieves more is true more often than not. Players need teammates that are willing and able to […]