Volleyball: Dig and move position

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

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.

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.

Players stand in a row in the centre of the court facing the net. There should be two balls on the sidelines, either side of each player.

On the coach's whistle the players shuffle sideways to the ball on their left, imitate an underhand pass, then shuffle back to the centre of the court.

The players then repeat the action but move toward the ball on their right hand side.

Player 1 stands in a defensive position in Zone 6.

The coach or teammates standing at the side of the court then feed player 1 five balls.

Note: three balls should be fed to player 1 using a spike, the fourth is thrown short and the last one is thrown to the baseline.