How to Get Your Volleyball Team to Communicate
- 1). Get your team to stand in a circle. Throw the ball towards a player and have the player bump or set the ball to another player. Tell the team that each member must yell "Mine" or "Me" right before the player bumps the ball. No matter if the ball is coming right at the player or not, the player has to yell that it's her ball. If the ball drops to the ground without a player trying to get to it or a player doesn't yell out, the entire team has to run sprints or do push-ups.
- 2). Have two players stand on the court, at the back row. Line up the rest of the team behind the two players. Stand where the setter is supposed to be standing and toss the ball at the two players. Ask the players to bump the ball back to you by calling the ball and passing it back. If the ball drops to the ground, or nobody calls it, the two players on the court must do push-ups or run a lap. Once a player has passed a ball, she goes to the back of the line and the next player in line stands on the court.
- 3). Set up three lines of hitters and have your setter stand in the setting position. Ask the hitters to yell out that they want the ball. Have the setter set the ball where she wants with communication by announcing the number back. Once the players get used to this, ask the setter to not yell out the numbers, which gives away the play to the other team.
- 4). Tell the players where they need to communicate and put them to the test. Set up the players on both sides of the court in a normal rotation. Before play, ask the serving team some questions. Ask the back row to tell you where the setter is on the opposite side and ask the blockers which hitter they are blocking. Ask the setters on the receiving side to announce the play they want to run. The rest of the passers need to determine how much of the court they each have and which player will pass short balls.
- 5). Ask the players to talk amongst themselves if anything went wrong with the play. Then have them talk to each other about the good things that happened during the play.
- 6). Organize team functions outside of practice. By having the players hang out together off the court, they will get to know each other better and become more comfortable with each other. This may lead to better communication on the court.
