Volleyball: Defending five different shots

Develop your players' defensive ability from the backcourt area through boosting their movement, ball control and communication skills.

Players line up in backcourt area.

The feeder throws the ball to either Zone 1, 6 or 5. Players' must dig the ball back to the feeder.

However, the player standing in Zone 6 must move to receive the balls sent to Zone 1 and 5. The player standing in zone 5 must move to receive the ball thrown into 1 or 6 and so on.

The two players not in the zonal area the ball has been thrown to must communicate with each other to see who will return the ball to the feeder.

This drill requires one setter and two or more receivers.

The coach or a teammate throws balls from the other side of the net. Player 1 receives the ball by digging it to their teammate who sets the ball, whereby player 1 runs to the net to spike the ball.

When using more than one receiver the person feeding should throw another ball into play the moment player 1 spikes. This way the player covering the backcourt can get into position to dig, move and spike to mimic a game situation.

One player stands in Zone 3 and spikes the ball into the court.

The other players, starting from behind the sideline, take it in turns to receive the ball, return it to the player acting as the feeder and runs to Zone 1.

Once all the players are in Zone 1, the player feeding continues to spike the ball into the court but the other players must change positions from side to side in the backcourt.

In pairs, the players stand on the service line facing each other. Player 1 has two balls.

Player 1 then throws a ball to his/her partner. Player 2 has to return the ball using an underhand pass to player 1 who has shuffled sideways toward the net.

Both players repeat this action until they reach the net, whereby they continue the action back to the service line.