Strike Fast: First Kill Opportunity Drill

By: AVCA

Originally Published in: Coaching Volleyball

It seems like the season just ended, but here we are - back in the gym as the season approaches! No matter the level that we are coaching - high school, college or club - we can all agree that it is very important to work on first kill opportunities. One of the drills we use, called Knock-It-Off, has helped our first kill by forcing the team to work together to form a consistent attack. With the focus on offense, each side has a written list of attacks (generally on a whiteboard; can be identical or different from side to side) that needs to result in a kill in sequential order to get out of the drill.

Set-up

Traditional 6v6 on either side of the court
Side A: Coaches choose serve receive rotation to receive serves from Side B.
Side A must complete their list of attacks to get out of the rotation. The number of attacks you have on the whiteboard is dependent on the time allotted in practice. You cannot move onto the next attack before you get a kill on the attack previously listed.
- You can either remove the ball from play after Side B has defended the attack or play it out. If trying to keep to a set time, one suggestion is to remove the ball.
Side B then becomes the receiving side and completes their sequence in their first rotation.
Once both sides have completed their own first sequence, rotate and begin second sequence, and so on with the number of sequences/rotations listed.

Variations

Simplify the list by just locations on the net, such as left/middle/ right locations of the court.
First ball is from a live serve, additional balls are from a coach-initiated down or free ball.
Add execution-of-attack locations on the court for more of a challenge - Zone(Z) 4, Z5, Z1, Z6, Z2.
Assign a time allotment for the list to be completed so one side is not staying in serve receive for longer than desired. If you have time, you can come back to that rotation at the end.
If the first attempt does not result in the kill, side B now knows the location of the set, so this requires more creativity from the attacker but also stresses the efficiency of first ball side-out.

Additional Scoring

You can easily turn this drill into a competitive drill for both sides. Assigning Side B a number in which they have to complete a defensive play (e.g. block, dig to second touch), points for service aces/errors to add in serve/pass pressure, bonus points for attacks off the block, etc.