This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for 2014-15.
Absence, injury, and illness limited the numbers at training a bit. Not great timing given the match coming on Wednesday against one of the favorites to win the league since all of the missing players are in the mix for the first team. As a result, I focused on a bit of skill work for the first part of training. I had them do serving & passing 3s/4s as a starting point. Target serving followed. Then, because many of the players have struggled with good technique for down balls and back row type attacks (wrong foot forward mainly), I had them do a kind of butterfly which forced them all to set and hit – initially standing, then focusing on the last two approach steps. I finished up with game play in the form of the Belly Drill and narrow court winners 3s.
I wasn’t overly pleased with the serving and passing reps, particularly on the passing side. I did see a couple of players showing improvements, but their wasn’t enough calling of the ball and some players weren’t as focused on working on their technique as they needed to be. They did relatively well in the hitting drill, but of course once things shifted to game play it all went out the window for some of them, so more work is required in a game-like environment.
The intensity during the game play was good, and the overall level among the players is coming up as the second teamers are clearly making gains. The fact that they’ve been able to play some matches (they had two regional club league ones on Sunday) is definitely helping. The concern, though, is the first team not making as much progress as they really need to be making.
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