Volleyball Conditioning Drills

In order to keep players at their peak physical performance, it's important to engage in a number of volleyball conditioning drills. Volleyball conditioning drills differ from skill building and movement drills because they focus less on perfecting a particular skill and more on general athletic toning and conditioning. This in turn helps players achieve a greater fitness level, gain endurance, and play better volleyball.

Consecutive Attacks

First in this series of volleyball conditioning drills is this one called "Consecutive Attacks", which teaches players to attack volleyball drills ball despite fatigue. This drill is performed in pairs- one player hits the balls and one player to throw the balls.

To begin the drill, the thrower and hitter stand on opposite sides of the net. The thrower tosses one ball at a time from the setter position for the hitter to hit. The hitter must try and keep as many of the ball in bounds as possible. After they have successfully hit 10 balls in bounds, the players switch positions.

To increase the difficulty of this drill, the hitter must hit all 10 of their in bounds balls in a row. This causes players to learn how to perform good hits even under pressure and exhaustion.

Hit the Floor

Here's a great volleyball conditioning drill called "Off the Floor" that has players starting on the floor to increase their reflexes and reaction times. To begin, have the players form a line along one end of the court. The player at the front of the line gets down on their stomach on the ground.

To begin the drill, the coach or drill leader blows their whistle and the player on the ground must jump to their feet as fast as they can and assume the passing position to receive a pass from the coach. The pass is volleyed back to the coach, who in turn throws it to the next person in the line, who should be already down on their stomach waiting for the signal to jump up.

Three's Company

Next here's a drill for three players called "Three Man Weave" that conditions players by forcing them to run short distances quickly. It also allows players to focus on their setting accuracy.

The players form a triangle, with Players A and B standing about 5 feet apart and Player C standing about 10 feet away. To begin the drill, player A tosses the ball to Player C, who sets the ball to Player B. Player B catches the ball and runs to take over for Player A, and the cycle resumes.

As soon as player A has completed their toss to player C, they run to take player C's place. Similarly, as soon as player C has completed their set, they run to take player B's place. Players continue rotating through the triangle of setting and passing. For added difficultly, the coach can develop a signal such as two whistle blows which signals a change in direction of the entire drill.

Larry Reid has been coaching volleyball for well over a decade. You can get instant access to his championship volleyball practice plans and drills by visiting his website:

http://www.bestvolleyballdrills.com

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