Volleyball Serve Drills

The tone of a volleyball game is affected by how well a team can serve. There are a few different things that you can focus on when practicing serves. You can apply pressure to the server, require accuracy or just make it into a fun team activity. There are drills that will help your team improve its serving in all of these aspects.

  1. Serving Relay

    • Divide your team into two separate lines on the service line. When the coach signals, the first person in the line serves the ball. If she gets the ball over the net and in bounds, she shags the ball and brings it back to the next person in line to serve the ball. If she misses, she must shag the ball, run back and serve it again. The first team through its line wins.

    Around the World/Golf

    • Start a player in the right back position on the opposite side of the net from the server. The server tries to serve the ball to the player in that position. The catching player tries to catch the served ball, but she can move only one foot to do so. If she cannot catch the ball or has to move too far to do so, then the server must try again. When the serve is caught in the right back position, the catcher will move to the center back, eventually moving to all six positions, or around the world.

    Dead Fish

    • Divide into two even teams, with one on each side of the net. The players will continuously serve volleyballs during the allotted time, two to three minutes. If a player misses a serve, then she must run to the opposite side of the net and lay down, or be a dead fish. She can get back up and rejoin her team whenever she is hit with a service ball from her own team. The team with the most players left at the end wins.