Volleyball Drills to Help Move Feet

Volleyball players have to react quickly and move seamlessly to the area on the court that the ball is heading. This takes anticipation, agility and quick feet. Make sure your players all have a proper volleyball stance and then work on footwork for specific skills. To develop quick feet in your volleyball players, perform agility drills both with and without the volleyball.

Quick footwork will allow you to move to the ball before it hits the court. (Image: kvv515kvv/iStock/Getty Images)

Team Sliding Drill

Perform team sliding drills at the beginning of practice as part of the warm-up. Have your team spread out across the court and get in ready position -- feet wide-set, arms bent and in front of the body, knees in an almost full-squat position, buttocks out and chest pointing down toward the floor. When you point to the right, the team slides to the right, when you point to the left, the team slides to the left, when you shout "Block!" the team jumps up to block an imaginary ball, when you shout "Spike!" the team performs a spike approach. As your team develops a more extensive repertoire of footwork, you can incorporate dives and rolls into the routine.

Jumping Drills

Using cones or specially made jumping mats with dots in an "X" formation, run your players through a number of jumping drills. Have the team do a certain number of "touches" for each drill, meaning that they only jump, allowing their feet to touch the ground a certain number of times for each drill. You can add touches throughout the season, but start small at 10 to 20 touches per drill. Include the following jumps -- forward and backward two-foot hops; side-to-side two-foot hops; and "X" formation two-foot hops, where players start in the center, jump forward at an angle to the left, back to center, backward at an angle to the left, back to center than forward and backward to the right. You can also include tuck jumps and pike jumps. Limit each jumping routine to fewer than 100 total touches when you first start out.

Quick Reactions

Have your team line up in a single-file line in a back row position. Stand at the net with a ball rack and have another coach stand at the setter's position as a target. The first player in line gets in ready position. Toss the ball in front of the player but to a spot that will be hard for her to reach -- throw it to the left or to the right of the player, low to the ground or very short. She has to anticipate where the ball is heading, then react quickly by moving her feet to get under the ball. She should aim her pass to the waiting target. As soon as she passes the ball and gets out of the way, toss the ball again for the next player, who has to be down and ready to move. Each player shags her own ball and returns it to the ball rack to keep this drill moving quickly. Let each player receive a ball five to 10 times.