Volleyball teaches youth important life skills.
Volleyball is a team sport that requires quick reactions and a focused attention to basic skills. Drills to build these skills can be repetitive. Keeping the attention of youth volleyball players during these drills can be quite a challenge. Maintaining a game-like feel throughout practice by integrating music, vocal interaction and a bit of competition will help keep your players interested and make them work, even if they don't think of it as work.
Instructions
1. Keep the drills fun with music.
Use music during practice drills to keep the environment lively. Play music with a fast-paced tempo to keep the drills fast-paced, which will aid in developing quick reactions. Playing music with a slower-paced tempo, especially during cool-downs after practice, gives team members time to reflect on their performance during practice and gives them something to look forward to. Involve your players in choosing the music and leading drills to form a more cohesive and confident team.
2. Make your team use their voices. Create drills that force them to call the ball or use each other's names. Talking to each other during practice allows them to feel more comfortable as a team. A good example of a drill would be to have the team stand in a circle. Throw the ball straight up into the air and have team members call the ball to claim it, and have the winner pass the ball to another person by calling her name and returning to her place in the circle.
3. Provide incentives such as an extra water break, five less laps or finishing practice early to spark excitement in a particular drill. Another incentive is a game at the end of practice. Keep interest high through the entire practice by offering prizes for the person with the most won drills or the team player with the most consistent practice over the week.
4. Treat practice like a match. Base your drills on adapting them to game-like settings. Throw the ball over the net and not from the side, or use sequences for all practice drills. An example sequence is "Serve-Pass-Set-Deliver-Block."
5. Practice drills in a game-like setting. Keep score to add a bit of pressure. Practicing serves with targets is an example of keeping score. If a target is missed, complete the sequence and deduct a point from the player or team.
