August 2019 Coaching Tip

Posted by Volley CART on

Tip by Matt Barkley, Post Falls HS in Post Falls, Idaho.

I call this drill S-P-C, Serving-Passing-Conditioning. This drill tackles all 3 in one drill. Split up your team with one side passing and one side serving. Coach can be a target and judge on quality of pass. Players rotate from serving side to passing side. After every serve someone is doing a type of conditioning activity. We do a down and back run to net and end line. You can do whatever floats your boat!!

If the server misses their serve, the server runs to the net and back twice.
If the passer passes a 3 option pass, the server runs to the net and back once.
If the passer gets aced, the passer runs two times to the net and back.
If the passer passes a 1 or 2 option pass, the passer runs one time down and back.

This drill makes servers think strategically about how difficult to serve and who to serve to. I ask my kids, "Do you really want to serve to the best passer in the gym? If you do, you will probably running quite a bit." It also makes them take risks. They have to serve tough or else they will be running! The tough serves make our serve receive passing that much better! I put 5 minutes on the clock and do the drill twice with a water break in between. You can adjust the time and reps to suit your team and goals for the day.


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3 comments


  • I would rather that the used their energy to process feedback on their performance.

    Mike Tully on
  • I split them up half on serving side and half on passing side. Once they make a serve they go to the passing side, and once they pass a ball they move to serving side. Sometimes line gets short on serving side if people are missing serves. Then we adjust to make it flow.

    Matt Barkley on
  • How are they lined up single file line?
    How many passes in the passing court 1, 2 or 3.
    Do player rotate from serving to passing line right after the serve & pass?

    Charles Smerlas on

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