Synopsis: This is a competitive serving and passing game that is team vs. team rather than servers vs. passer.
Age/Skill Level: This is an exercise for all levels.
Requirements: 2 teams, one court
Execution: Split the squad in half. Each team then fields a group of passers, with the remainder serving. Teams take turns serving, with the following scoring:
+1 serving side for an ace
+1 receiving side for a perfect pass (or whatever quality pass you’re after)
-1 serving side for a missed serve
-1 receiving side for an overpass
Play to 15 points.
Variations:
- You can vary the number of passers you have on the court, and if using less than you’d normally have in a game, you can narrow the area into which servers have to put the ball (e.g. only serve into Zones 1 & 6).
- You could incorporate out-of-system passes into the scoring as well.
- If you have radar to measure serve speed, you could give a point for balls with whatever minimum speed makes sense for your level.
- You can incorporate specific things you’re working on into the scoring. For example, if you want short serves, the serving side can get +1 if the receiver puts at least 1 foot in front of the 3m line, regardless of outcome.
- Rather than the players on one side taking turns serving, you could have a server who scored a point (or who caused the other team a -1) to serve again, like in a real game.
- If you want to incorporate setting and hitting, you could add to the scoring based on the outcome of a set-hit attempt.
Additional Comments:
- This game was shared in a Learning Lab for the 2022 AVCA Virtual Convention by Giovanni Guidetti.
- Giovanni was explicit that he does not want the game to end on a missed serve. That is why missed serves are a minus for the serving team, not a plus for the receiving one.
- Giovanni said the game normally takes 3-4 minutes with his teams, but those are high level professionals. Your team may be very different.
- You my also like this other serving and passing game from Giovanni.
6 Steps to Better Practices - Free Guide
Subscribe to my weekly newsletter today and get this free guide to making your practices the best, along with loads more coaching tips and information.
