Watching The Ball

[heather&rebecca 0]

Does anyone have any drills or exercises that will help the girls learn to watch the ball at ALL times? I notice my girls not paying attention some times when they think another teammate has gotten the ball, or when they get it over the net, not watching it to see if the other team is going to get it back over.

[Connie 0]

A drill I do is once a ball goes over the net or hits the floor (goes dead in any way) I immediately toss another over the net - at the one(s) not paying attention. It really forces the team to pay attention at all times. You can play a "game" with it...they need to return 5 balls to you before 10 hit the floor or go out of play. The kids I work with seem to like the challenge of trying to beat the coach.

[Bert 0]

Another drill is as follow:

On one site of the net there are two players, one in the left part of the court, one in the right part of the court.

I serve the ball over the net, to the left of to the right. The player in the part of the court where the ball doesn't go to, must sit on the floor, as soon as he or she knows that the ball doesn't go his or her direction. They must try to do this earlier, everytime they do this dril. At the first time it's good when he or she sit on the floor when the ball is going over the net, after that they must 'see' the direction of the ball even when the ball isn't going over the net.

A variation on this drill, but more difficult (but more gamelike) is:

the same drill, but now, when the player know that the ball doesn't go his or her direction, he is running to net. The other player must play the ball to the net, where the first player must catch this ball.

Good luck, when you like to know more, please ask.

Bert