How much time should varsity v-ball concentrate on the basics?

Question

our varsity team runs alot of basic skills drills during practice, which isn't bad but they are pretty proficient already. my question is, is it necessary to spend the "majority" of the practice running these basic drills(passing, blocking, hitting) or should they spend more time on plays and strategy. we have 5 hour practices daily and i think it doesn't serve them well playing at that level and not running plays agianst opponents.

what do you guys think?

thanks

Answer 1

Hey, Maddie,

jvy20002001us is THE coach

:)

IMO a varsity team should focus on basics, at least at the very beginning.

You sure need to run plays, but you also need to know your players, whether they have the enthusiasm playing for you, whether they are committed, how frequently a player would miss a practice and how much you can count on each of them. You play can only get finalized after you have all those "data" about your players.

If your team is a jv or at lower level, you might want to add more fun to your parties :)

Answer 2

not long because varsity is above every other team,

Answer 3

You really need to practice both plays and basic skills. Each are key components in a game like volleyball and both will come in handy. Maybe you and your team members should talk to your coach or ask an adult that works for the team to talk to him/her for you.

Answer 4

my team only spent like 10 minutes on drills if that.  You learn to play vball by playing vball.  There are so many different games to play.  My coach had a bunch of different games to play within vball that helped with specifics.  We would usually start with King of the court (or queen of the court depending on what we wanted to call it) and then we'd do the butterfly drill just to get us moving.  "Last ball" was always a team favorite.  He starts by giving a team a last ball (meaning we'd have to get it over the net right away because it was the last ball).  If that team won, they'd get a free ball and then if they won that, we'd go for a point.  So you'd have to keep moving and winning three in a row to get a point.  You need 3 little points to get one big point.  If at any time that team loses a volley, the other team would start again with a last ball.  We'd usually play til like 3 big points.  A variation brings in talking.  The team to talk to most get a point.  It's fun and it makes the team talk and have more comunication.  Exchange is also good for moving.  Split the team into three teams.  Two start on the court and have to touch it three times before getting it over.  Once you hit it over, you run off the court for the other team to run on by the time it's hit back to your side.  The key is that everyone is on the side team and you count the exchanges.  The coach makes a goal of how many exchanges you need in order to stop playing.  10 may be a good number to start with just to get the rules down.  Hitting hard usually doesn't happen in that game.  There's also fun games for hitting and one called baseball.  If you want, I can let you know how those go, but i don't think any more would help to answer this question.  Our team had the motto "there's no running in vball".  Our practises just kept us moving.  The only time we would run is when the coach would see us not trying.  Then he would say the losing team would run a lap and everyone would automatically step up their game. i loved that team.

Answer 5

I took a coaching clinic from Doug Beal and Bill Neville years ago.  They were the former coaches of the USA Men's team that won the Gold Medal.  

They said that the USA team practiced passing in one form or another for 50% of the practice.  They said that if you can not pass, you can not run any plays.

Answer 6

Practice makes perfect! I was the captain of my volleyball team last year and my coach did the same thing she focused on a lot of the basic skills. and it always seemed to me that those things should have been covered in earlier years, but looking back those drills allowed EVERYONE to be on the same page. it was just another connection to each other that strengthened us as a team. Then eventually once everyone got a grasp on the basics we took those drills and made them well ... a little more interesting by adding in more complex factors. Hopefully this is what you were looking for GOOD luck!!!   oh we ended up going to the semis that year for the first time in 3 years!

Answer 7

Basic skills are the most important but master those and then go onto technique and more fun, but harder drills. Add in contioning to the drills to spreadout the workload.

Answer 8

if you're varsity level is anything like ours (I live in Manitoba and varsity is grade 11 and 12 players), you shouldn't have to spend so much time on the basics. However, it's really dependant on your team's skill level. Remember, you're only as strong as your weakest link. If you're team is as proficient as you say, I would increase the drill difficulties, working in more game specific drills. 5 hours is a lot to practice each day and doing basic drills can become repeptitive and boring. The players need to be challenged, but in a way so that they don't feel like the challenge is impossible. I would do a little basics each day, then work more on strategy; incorporating drills that are game specific...i.e. throwing a ball against the net and having them learn to play the ball off the net, without the pressure of messing up, ....stuff like that. Also, I would make sure that everyone is aware of not only their responsibility, but their teammates as well. Work on positioning and how to read hitters and adjust to your blocks. One thing that I really enjoy doing with the team is team bonding sessions. We'll cut practice early and order pizza and watch film (i coach the juniour varsity/freshmen team). This can accomplish two goals: 1 - The girls will socialize with each other and become more comfortable with each other and 2 - the benefit of actually seeing yourself play volleyball is wonderful (it's kinda like hearing your own voice on tape; it's never what you expected). Typically a player will benefit from only one of the two mentioned. As most will talk, a few will be intense on the footage and maybe one or two are capable of doing both. Either way it doesn't matter to me because both are beneficial to the team.

Anyway, I've realized that i'm rambling, so the short of is. Challenge them and use the time creatively. Alot of drills already incorporate the basics into them. Oh and you can never have enough serving practice.

Here's a site with some pretty good drills that are for advancing the basics.

Good Luck with your team!