2x National Coach of the Year; 2012 MVC regular season and tournament champions; all-time wins leader at Creighton
Typically, ball control work is a player's least favorite part of practice. Kirsten Bernthal Booth shows you how to engage players in this area with a variety of drills designed to challenge them physically and mentally. She includes drills and variations that will take your players' ball control to a whole new level and will introduce on-court problem solving. In addition to forearm passing, these drills will test the abilities of your players to set, tip, roll, swing with control and even use other body parts to win points!
Warm-up Drills
Help your players get a feel for the ball! Use these drills at the start of practice to get players working on their passing and setting techniques. Unlike conventional "toss, pass and catch" at a standstill, these drills are executed while players are moving, which makes them more game-like.
Looking for an innovative way to warm up while focusing on improving ball control? Coach Bernthal Booth shares a creative and fun partner game called "Golf" that requires players to complete different ball-handling challenges before advancing to the next hole. This drill challenges players' ball-handling skills while also requiring them to problem solve.
Pepper Drills
Discover a variety of pepper options including two-, three- and four-player options as well as an over-the-net series. As players collaborate to keep the ball in play, they're also working on a variety of ball-handling skills such as passing, setting, digging, tipping, rolling and attacking. Many of the drills involve progressions that are great for athletes of all skills levels, from beginners to the most advanced players. With no less than 20 variations, this presentation gives you enough drills to fill a season's worth of practice plans with fresh warm-up games!
Competitive Ball Control Drills
Learn five short-court competitions that can be used to start or finish practice. In these 2v2 drills, players play to win, not to keep the ball in play. Each game includes a series of progressions that require players to really focus on ball control as they contact the ball in different ways. These short-court drills emphasize problem-solving skills needed in the chaotic situations that often occur in evenly matched games.
One example of Coach Bernthal Booth's short-court competitions is the "Antenna Game." This creative set limits how players can contact the ball while working on defending and attacking different angles. It's a great drill to help players recognize and react to attacks from different angles, which is something that coaches often have difficulty getting players to understand.
Coach Bernthal Booth showcases a fresh set of drills to challenge and develop your players' ball-control skills while bringing an atmosphere of fun into practice. This presentation includes drills that can be adapted for all levels and is a must-have for coaches looking for new ways to teach basic volleyball skills.
50 minutes. 2015.
VD-04801F: with Kent Miller, St. Louis University Head Women's Volleyball Coach;
1992 U.S. Olympic Team Assistant Coach, Assistant Coach to Team USA World Grand Prix (Gold Medal)
Every rally begins with the serve, but is your team gaining an advantage every time they serve? In this presentation, Kent Miller takes a comprehensive look at serving and how you can train your team to serve more efficiently and aggressively. You will learn 13 drills that focus on serving technique, tactical serving and team play.
Serving Strategies
Using a whiteboard, Coach Miller stresses the significance, objectives and strategies of serving. His in-depth analysis of serving styles and how to best use personnel are more valuable than any drill. His philosophical approach to serving will be an eye opener for any coach who ranks serving low on his or her strategic priorities list.
You will learn what to work on to give your team a strong advantage from the service line. And how working on serving time, pace, profile, contact, metrics and drill design can play a huge role in your team's serving success.
Serving Mechanics
On the court, Coach Miller focuses on mechanics. You will learn how to perform the float serve, jump float and jump spin serve. Miller shows the essential techniques for the toss, footwork, contact and body mechanics for each serve, using an easy-to-follow format that simplifies the teaching process.
Serving Drills
The last segment of the presentation includes a series of drills for working on everything that has previously been explained. Coach Miller begins with a warm-up drill and then proceeds to technique and tactical drills.
The technique drills use partners to provide feedback since a coach cannot always be present. The techniques of each type of serve are practiced while serving lines and diagonals are short and deep.
The tactical drills work on teaching the strategies of the game while giving players the necessary repetitions for mastery. These strategy drills cover such things as zone serving, serving at passers, serving between passers, serving to specific passers and avoiding certain passers. The last drill is a competitive drill that not only works on serving strategies but also gives a team's serve receive passers some competition. This drill may be well known but Coach Miller adds a unique twist on how to score it that is realistic to the game of volleyball.
Pressuring your opponent with a tough serve is critical in today's game, with offenses becoming more dynamic and complex. Using classroom sessions, technique drills and tactical drills, this presentation gives you a full toolbox for making your team great at the skill of serving. Covering everything from fundamentals to higher-level strategy, this presentation will help any program improve in the practice gym and on the competition court.
59 minutes. 2015.
VD-04801G: with Mike Johnson, University of Notre Dame Associate Head Coach;
former Xavier University Head Coach; averaged more than 20 wins per year the last five seasons; three consecutive runner-up finishes in the Atlantic 10 Conference
Notre Dame Associate Head Coach Mike Johnson presents an effective, comprehensive tool for developing the two most critical aspects of defense: skill and heart. Coach Johnson introduces a series of warm-up drills and competitive game-like drills for maximizing reps and cultivating a "never quit" defensive spirit.
Every drill in this video revolves around players hitting or attacking balls to defenders. Defenders work on different types of digs but everything is realistic to the game or game situations. All of these drills help to develop defensive skills while also allowing players to work on offensive skills.
Defensive Posture, Floor Skills & Warm-up Drills
Coach Johnson emphasizes the need for good defensive posture and the importance of "building your platform" behind the ball. He provides an organized presentation on how to teach both of these skills and he demonstrates effective drills for training these skills.
You will also learn basic floor skills such as digging high and low balls and digging balls outside the body. Since not every ball can be played with a forearm pass, you will also see defensive techniques such as the sprawl, pancake and fist.
Coach Johnson pulls it all together with a warm-up drill that forces players to randomly use each skill as they would in a game.
Competitive Games & Drills
In these drills, players are rewarded by either performing correct techniques or based on the outcome of their action. While fun and competitive, these drills also teach basic defensive skills and build a defensive mindset in players. Here are a few of the drills that you will see in this presentation:
- Coaches on Boxes - Emphasizes the need to be "stopped and balanced" and to make a "good first step" while playing defense. Performed in a game-like setting, this drill rewards a player for making the right defensive moves or rewards the outcome of a good pass.
- Going for a Run - Building on the theme of being "stopped and balanced" and taking a good first step, this drill adds live hitters so that defenders can learn to read hitters. Coach Johnson shares cues you can use to help defenders make the correct reads.
- Step-Play-Swing - This is an effective drill for getting all your players involved, offensively and defensively. Hitters toss to themselves and then attack a group of defenders who need to read the hitters' intent. This requires the defender to call out and communicate with the other defensive players. This game-like drill that can be used to teach skills or used as a warm-up drill.
Coach Johnson covers individual defense in a very unique way. All you need to do is emphasize the defensive process and give feedback as the players are engaged in game-action drills. Even experienced coaches will find a new way to improve players' defensive skills using the techniques given in this excellent presentation.
By teaching and performing these drills, your team will develop the two elements needed to play successful defense: heart and skill.
72 minutes. 2015.