Three-Ball Drill: Building Continuity Within Your Rotations

Originally Published in: Coaching Volleyball

Provided by/Copyright: American Volleyball Coaches Association

At the beginning of the season, coaches have a "To-Do" list that is a mile long. From individual technique training to team systems to figuring out your best lineup, the goal is to chip away at these items so that the team continues to improve throughout the season.

With that being said, the Three-ball Drill that I am about to introduce will work the best once you have some of those items checked off that list. Certainly, the drill could be used in the learning process of team systems, but we find that it works best for us after we have mastered some of the basic team concepts. The drill flows much more smoothly when your team understands how you want them to handle certain situations (free balls, defending OH, RS, middle, etc.). One of the great things that this Three-ball Drill is doing for us at this particular point in the season is that it is helping us build continuity and rhythm within all six of our rotations.

The final thing that I will say about this drill is that it is incredibly versatile. You can shape this drill in a number of different ways to help strengthen your team's weaknesses.

Now on to the drill.

Setup: The coach will choose three specific scenarios for the team to execute in Rotation 1. Here are some examples:

As you can see, the combinations are endless. Also, you can tell that we like to start/finish with a serve or serve-receive situation. Those skills/situations are not only the most game-like but also extremely important for us in building continuity within our rotations. But, I would encourage coaches to pick situations that make the most sense for what their team needs to improve on the most.

Every practice gym has its limitations (number of players, number of coaches, etc.). If you do not have enough players to play out the rallies, mark off areas of the court that you would like players to attack/serve to in order to award points.

The scoreboard: We set the scoreboard at one of the following scores: 19-19 (closing out a tight set and creating separation), 2219 (closing out a set with a late lead), 19-22 (coming from behind late in a set).

How to score: Three balls are entered in the order that the coach lays out at the beginning of the drill. A team that wins two out of three balls = 1 point on the scoreboard; three out of three balls = two points on the scoreboard.

Objective: The starting team remains in Rotation 1 until the scoreboard shows 25 for one of the teams. If the starting side wins, they rotate to Rotation 2. If they lose, the starting side remains in Rotation 1 and the scoreboard returns to its initial starting point. The goal is to get through all six rotations.