Teaching Your Players to Block Successively
-By Dave Cross
A Question for Dave:
How do I teach blocking effectively to a 14 and under team?
Dave's Reply:
Normally, 14's are the age I have coached during club season. After
all, it
made sense when I was coaching high school ball, because I could work
with three of my most promising in-coming freshman an entire season
before they reached high school.
Here are the blocking techniques I taught them at that age, along with a
couple of drills to strengthen their skills: (They are the same techniques
and drills I used with my own varsities, and teach at our summer camps.)
Stationary Blocking Ready Position:
POINTS OF EMPHASIS:
-Feet shoulder width a part or a little wider. (Basic "on-balance"
position)
-Ankles flexed to force weight to front of feet with knees bent slightly
(this is called a "coil")
-Hands chin high so that blocker is looking directly over fingers.
(Middle
blockers raise hands higher so that they are looking between their
forearms.)
-Fingers spread with thumbs pushing to ceiling. (If they take their
hands
and put them their thumbs in their ears in this position it will look
like
"mickey mouse ears")
-Elbows in front of body. (Keeps torso away from net)
Stationary Jump Block:
-Place them facing a wall, about one foot away and have them do a
series of
block jumps against the wall.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS:
-Wall must be touched with both hands and feet (kicking feet forward
at top
of jump helps to push hands forward to break plane of net.)
-Stomach must be contracted and held tight - this helps to kick feet
forward
and also gives hands and arms strength to hold position when ball
forces
into them (otherwise, hands get blown off net and ball falls on blockers
side)
-Shoulders are pushed up to ears and thumbs are pushed at shoulders-this
gives the blocker a little higher touch point and also helps to keep
hands
close enough together to prevent ball from getting hit through hands.
-Hold hands high until they feel gravity start to pull then back down
toward
ground-this helps them to stop pulling hands down too soon.
-Land in same block coil (ankles and knees flexed) that they jumped
from-this is a must as it helps prevent knee injuries on landing.
It also
allows them to prepare to jump again more quickly if needed.
DRILL: KNEE BLOCKING (to work on the techniques
needed from the waist up)
-Players in pairs, one ball
-One player on knees, with arms fully extended in blocking position,
with
stomach held tight, and eyes closed.
KEYS:
1. Stomach must be held tight to avoid
arms being "blown-back" off net on
contact.
2. Eyes are closed during drill to train
players to react on touch, as they
will in a match, also to avoid them trying to anticipate the ball
during
this drill and starting to cup/push to soon, resulting in jammed or
even
broken fingers.
-Partner stands just to side of knee blocker and holds ball right
in front
on blockers hands. (The closer they stand to the blocker, the easier
it will
be to hit the ball into their hands, and not their face!)
-Partner hits ball with force into blockers hands.
-Blocker reacts on feel of contact and cups ball with hands and pushes
down
with wrists. (Cup-Push) (Be sure they don't try to force ball down
with
forearms, this will result in net fouls during competition.)
Setting Block:
POINTS OF EMPHASIS:
-Move quickly to align nose with shoulder of attacker.
-Jump right after attacker (unless blocking a one in the middle)
-Reach with hands to surround hitting hand
-Most times the footwork is simply a step-slide (one-two steps)
KEY: Block must be set quickly so that
the closing blocker has a good visual
on where to close to!!
Transition Blocking:
POINTS OF EMPHASIS:
(For situations where blocker has to move more than one-two steps-It
really
depends on the length of their step when they will need to transition
instead of step-slide)
-Footwork is drop step, crossover step, slide step
-Drop step-this is the biggest step of the three. Take such a big
step
laterally, and just far enough back to have room for the hip to swing
through on crossover step, that you are actually off-balance and must
take a
good sized second step to regain base of support.
KEY: Make sure to keep hands up at ready
position height with palms facing
net throughout the entire transition.
-Crossover step-Bring hip through as quickly as possible and reach
with
lower leg to make a long stride and bring base of support back into
balance.
-Glance down at closest foot of blocker setting block as crossing
over to
find the point on floor to plant at before jumping -(this helps immensely
with them actually closing the block)
-Upon planting foot at end of second step, jam heal into floor first
to slow
down lateral momentum and prepare to jump.
-Slide step- this is necessary if the first two steps to get not get
the
blocker close enough to close the block. It's simply a step-slide
to close
the hole between the blockers before jumping.
Communication:
POINTS OF EMPHASIS:
-The blocker setting the block should call out "1,2,3,up",
or "Ready, up" as
they coil and begin to jump, the closing blocker should listen to
this and
time their jump to make sure both blockers are "up" at the same time.
(This
ensures you have four hands up at once, not "two, then two".
Here's a drill from our Gold Members Site that
you can use to work on every
aspect of what I have described, while also working on your hitter's
attack
approaches. (We have quite a few more blocking drills and articles
in the
members site)
Drill: Approach vs. Block Shadow
Players Needed: Any Even Number
Equipment Needed: Court with net
Setup: Pair up players of comparable
heights. The players then form two
single file lines off to one side of the court at the net. One player
from
each pair is in one line. They must both be the same number deep in
line.
I.E., both are third in their own line.
Description: The first two girls in line
step up to the net in a block coil.
The drill begins with the two players doing a partner block jump.
Immediately upon landing, one player transitions off the net and does
an
attack approach angling about five feet down the net, complete with
a swing.
The blocker must transition and block the "shadow swing". The players
then
immediately switch roles and go again from that spot, and continue
until
they have reached the other antenna. They then jog back to the end
of the
line and prepare to go again.
Once the first group has reached the middle of the net, the next group
begins, and so on, until the drill is moving continuously.
Keys:
1. The players must perform the drill
at match speed.
2. All hitter and blocker communications must be called out at the
appropriate moment.
3. The hitter must swing straight ahead
of their approach, whether the
blocker has aligned properly or not. They should not swing into a
poorly
aligned block, or swing to avoid a well aligned block.
Rationale: This drill is great as an
early practice warm-up, or as a lead-in
to attacking or blocking drills. It is imperative the players move
at match
speed and use all vocal calls pertaining to the skill execution. It
is an
excellent drill to improve footwork, approach technique and blocker
alignment.
Good Luck!
Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball
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