Okay, so I wanted to spice up our volleyball practice, make it less about drills and more about, you know, fun. I figured we could still work on skills but in a way that felt more like playing games. So, I went down a rabbit hole of searching for fun volleyball games for practice, and here’s what I tried out with my team this week.
Warm-up Mayhem: Chaos Pepper
First, we started with a chaotic warm-up. We usually do regular pepper, but I changed the rules a bit.
- Instead of designated pairs, it was everyone scattered around.
- Multiple balls were in play – I think we had four going at once!
- The goal? Just keep the balls from hitting the floor. Pure, unadulterated volleyball pandemonium.
It sounds crazy, but it worked! Everyone was diving, shouting, laughing. We were warmed up fast and, more importantly, everyone was engaged and energized.
Setting Target Practice: Bucket Ball
Next up, wanted to focus on setting accuracy. I grabbed a couple of big buckets (trash cans would work too) and placed them in different zones on the court.
We split into teams. One side started with a server, the others were setters and hitters.
- Simple rules: Serve the ball over, and the setting team tried to set the ball into the buckets.
- Different buckets were worth different points – the further bucket was a higher points.
- Hitters could try to tip into the buckets as well to get points.
This got super competitive! People were really trying to fine-tune their sets to land them perfectly. We even had some impressive tips going in.
Serving Scramble: King/Queen of the Court (Serving Edition)
Serving is always something we can improve on. I wanted a game that put some pressure on, but still felt like, well, a game.
So, We did the game of king/queen of the court, but focused only on serving.
- One side of the court was the “serving side,” the other was the “receiving side.”
- One server at a time. Get your serve in, you stay on the serving side and the next person on the receiving side rotates in.
- Miss your serve? You go to the back of the receiving line.
- First team to a certain number of “good serves” won the whole game.
This was intense! That pressure of having to make the serve to stay in the game really made a difference. Everyone’s serves got noticeably better by the end.
Game Play Simulation: Short Court Frenzy
Finally, I wanted to work on quick reactions and game-like situations. I decided to make the court smaller – much smaller.
- We used the attack lines as the end lines, and the sidelines stayed the same.
- Played regular volleyball, but with the smaller space.
This was surprisingly hard! The ball felt like it was coming at you twice as fast. It forced everyone to react quicker, communicate better, and be super aware of their positioning. Great for working on those quick-twitch skills.
Overall, it was a fantastic practice. The team loved the variety and the energy levels were sky-high. I think this will be a regular thing in our practices from now on, We definitely got better, but more importantly, we had a blast doing it.
