Main Event: Competitive Multi Player Drill

By: Teri Clemens and Jenny McDowell

Originally Published in: The Volleyball Drill Book

Provided by: Human Kinetics

Purpose

To allow players to face off in small groups and to encourage competitive play by rewarding winning groups with more competition.

Setup

The coach divides players into several groups of triples or quads. One group starts on side B and one group on side A. The remaining groups wait behind the endline on side A. A coach or tosser with a feeder and a supply of balls is outside the sideline on side B. A scorekeeper sets up off the court, near but not at the net.

Run the Drill

1. The coach tosses or hits the ball to side A
2. Players rally until the ball is dead, and a point is awarded to the side that won the rally.
3. The group on side B is its own team and stays there throughout the game, even if it loses the rally.
4. If the group on side A loses the rally, it moves to the end of the line of extra players on side A, and the first group in that line moves onto side A. If the team on side A wins the rally, it continues to play.
5. All the side A groups are part of a single team. The scorekeeper keeps the total team score. Each group on side A also keeps its own tally.
6. The round is played to 6 points (scored by the side B group or by all the side A groups combined). At this point, players move onto the next com¬petition, called the main event.
7. Side B is automatically entered in the main event. The two groups from side A with the top scores play against side B in the main event. (If only one group from side A scored points, it alone faces side B in the main event.)
8. If side B wins 6 points in the main event first, it remains on side B for the start of the next game, and all the teams on side A are again in competition against side B.
9. If side A wins 6 points first, the group who is on the court when side A wins the final point is declared the winner of the main event, and that group moves to side B for the start of the next game. The group that was on side B moves to the end of the line at the endline on side A.

Coaching Points

• Because it may not take long for a team to score 6 points, to keep players motivated allow all the groups from side A who scored points to play in the main event.
• Enter balls quickly to keep the competition fast paced.

Variation

When running this drill at camp, the camp coaches can be the team on side B to start.