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A Fundamental Progression to
Improve Passing at Any Level
-By Dave Cross
At our camps we use the following progression to teach passing, no matter the experience level or
talent of the players. Of course, how much time we spend on the following
is dictated by the passing
prowess of the players. However, I have never conducted a camp where the passing fundamentals of
even the most experienced players could not be improved with a little more
focus on technique.
Typically, the better the players pass when we begin, the faster we run the
drills, as most
players passing accuracy decreases as their speed to the ball increases.
This passing progression has improved the passing accuracy of every team
I have ever worked with, so
here we go:
THE STANCE:
-Feet wider than shoulders with rt. foot slightly in front of left (big toe
on lt. foot lines up to
instep of rt. foot)
-Ankles flexed or bent forward so that weight is on front of feet and heels
feel like they are
barely touching the floor. (This will cause their knees
to bend naturally-but telling them to "bend
their knees" will not guarantee their weight is on the front part of their
feet.)
-Hands waist high with elbows bent in front of hips, palms facing each other.
-Hips up, shoulders forward, so that the back is flat and parallel to the
floor.
Tip: You do not not want them to bring their
heals off the floor in their stance. USA Volleyball did
a study awhile back and concluded that if the heals are off the floor in
the ready position, the
first thing that happens when the player begins to move is that the heals
go down to the floor
anyway, thus slightly slowing down the start of the movement to the ball.
Tip: Each time they get into the ready position, have them lean forward
and "swipe" the floor
with their right hand with a sideways motion, touching it with their finger
tips-this tells them
they are low enough and helps to ensure their weight is forward on the front
of their feet. Do
not let them "squat and poke" the floor, make sure they lean forward and
swipe instead.
THE RHYTHM STEP/PASSING PLATFORM:
-As the all comes in to them, they take a small "left-right" step to the
ball. It's almost a shuffle,
as the left foot should never come totally in front of the right foot.
-As they are doing this, the arms/hands are extended straight out from the
body.
-Hand position: lay the right hand across the
inside of the left hand so that the first knuckles
of the right hand are just outside of the pinkie of the left hand, then bring
the base of the
thumbs together and rotate the wrists so that the thumbnails are pointing
toward the floor.
Tip: This hand position guarantees that the
fleshy part of the forearm will be exposed to the ball.
This leads to more control of the ball upon contact than if the ball were
to contact the bony
part of the forearms-which is what is most exposed to the ball if the old
"make a fist and wrap your
other hand around it" technique is used.
THE PASS:
-Keep the ball between their hips
-Point their passing platform at their target
-Watch the "bottom-half" of the ball into the fleshy part of the forearms.
-If the ball were to somehow pass right through their arms it would hit them
right in the
mid-to-upper thighs.
-Hold the platform to the target until the ball reaches the target (or gets
far enough away from
them that it misses the target) :)
Tip: After they pass, have them stay low and
again lean forward and swipe the floor with their right
hand. This keeps them from bringing their shoulders up, and thus producing
too much arm
motion on their follow through, which produces too much force on the ball.
PRACTICE:
-Start them with the "Stanford Passing Drill"
-Pair them up with a ball for each pair.
-One girl from each pair is 15 ft. off the net, the other is at the net as
the tosser/target.
-Give them a goal of so many good passes in a time period, and make sure
to define for them what
counts as a good pass.
Tip: As their passing level progresses, move the passers to the ten
foot line. (The closer they are
to the target, the harder the drill becomes.)
Next go to "Short/Long Passing Drill":
-Same alignment as "Stanford" to start
-First ball is tossed so that the passer has to shuffle three steps minimum
to make the pass
-Passer then holds that position until the tosser tosses the next ball at
least three steps minimum
to make the pass
-Passer holds that position until next toss is made in front of them like
the first toss of the drill
-Go for 30 secs with a "total good pass goal" and make sure everyone goes
twice.
Next use the "Passing Footwork Progression Drill":
-A coach stands at center net on the same side as a single file
line of players on the endline at middle back. Two players are to the
left of
the coach at the net. One serves to hand the next ball to the coach
and one
is at the target.
The drill starts with the coach rolling a ball to either corner. The
first player in line
must shuffle to the ball in their passing stance and let the ball roll through
the
center of their legs (mid-line of the body) while keeping their hips and
shoulders square to the net.
The player then turns and runs to retrieve the ball and moves to the target
position to the
left of the coach. The player serving as ball hander gives the coach the
next ball and runs
to the end of the line at middle back. the target player moves to the ball
hander position,
and the drill continues in rapid fire fashion.
Progression:
-After a few times through the line, the coach moves to bouncing the ball
on a low and quick path.
-After a few more times through the line, the coach moves to tossing the
ball and
the player passes the ball to the target.
-After a few more times through the line, the coach moves to the opposite
side of
the net about twenty feet back and throws the ball overhand to the corners,
and
the player passes the ball to the target.
Tip: Stress "beating the ball to the spot".
This gets the players to focus on moving
quickly enough to be in correct passing position when the ball arrives.
This is a great drill for teaching shuffling to the ball while staying in
the passing stance and
square to the net. The progression allows the players to apply the
footwork and body
position to actually passing a ball immediately.
Next use the "Triangle Passing Drill":
-Groups of 3 girls/two balls-aligned in a triangle formation with the two
tossers about 10 ft. apart and
the passer about ten ft. away and in the middle of them.
-One tosser tosses ball directly out in front of herself and passer must
shuffle over and make pass
back to her.
-As soon as the pass is made, the passer starts shuffling to get in front
of ball tosses by the
other tosser, who tosses it as soon as the first pass is made.
-Go for 30 secs. and the score is the total of the good passes to both tossers
added together.
More Tips:
-During this entire progression, periodically have them take off one knee
pad and place it between their
shoulder blades. This keeps them from bringing their shoulders up, because
if they do, the knee pad falls off.
-With each of these drills, be sure to make sure they remember their scores
and then set a goal to
beat that score the next time the drill is run.
-Any time the ball is more than three shuffle steps away, they need to break
down and run to get
behind the ball and then quickly get back into their stance to pass the ball.
Make sure they
focus on "beating the ball" to the spot, not "meeting the ball at the spot".
-As you move into drills that are more of a combination
of skills, make sure to demand they
continue to focus on their passing fundamentals. Usually the more involved
the drill is, the more
they let their basic passing fundamentals drop off.
Good Luck!
-Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball
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