Drills to avoid burnout in volleyball
Volleyball is a sport that requires a lot of skill and energy from the players if they want to be at the top. Like any other sport that is taken up professionally, the volleyball players undergo vigorous training sessions that are frequent and can also be
continuous during the time that a season is ongoing. During such periods, it is important for a volleyball coach to maintain the energy and efficiency level of the players at an optimum and also ensure that they do not experience burnout.
When training sessions get long and continuous, they develop a tendency to be monotonous and tiring for the volleyball players. Therefore, rather than have a positive effect on a player’s performance, such training sessions can actually lead to a dampening
of the spirits and decreased efficiency on the court.
In order to avoid this from happening, a coach must aim to make the training sessions as interesting as possible while at the same time, the players should be able to learn something worthwhile from the routine.
At the same time, it is the responsibility of a player to positively respond to the exercises put forward by the coach. The following quote by an anonymous person explains this in these words, “Athletes who fail tend to be cynical. They believe their coaches
are not leading them properly. They are not willing to be impressed or inspired. This is expected of the phony, the snobbish, the pseudo-intellectual, but it dooms an athlete when the coach tries to inspire him and he just sits there saying this is a lot of
nonsense. The good athlete does not ridicule the capacities and ideas of the coach...He responds!”
There are several drills that a coach can make use of in order to make a training session more fun and avoid player burn out. One of these drills is called the Two on Six. Like the name suggests, the practice session takes place with six players on one side
of the court playing against two players on the other side. In order for this drill to work out properly, the two players on one side of the court should be the best ones as they would be able to cover the entire court better than their weaker team mates.
This drill is an excellent way to provide the top players with additional challenge to improve their skills.
Another fun drill that coaches can involve their players in is known as the Two Pile. This drill starts off with two of the volleyball players lying on top of each other. The coach throws the ball onto the court near the players so that it bounces high in
the air. When the ball hits the court, the players should get up while the player at the bottom should head for the ball in order to pass it to the other player. During this time, the player at the bottom should get into position to make a hit at the ball
as it comes his or her way. When the hit is made the drill ends and the next pair of volleyball players get into position for the start of the drill.
If the above mentioned drills are implemented into the training and practice sessions, player burnout can easily be avoided while at the same time player performance can be increased.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article do not represent Bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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