Volleyball drill: block timing

• A big mistake during blocking is that players mostly look at the ball.
• From the moment the ball leaves the distributor until it is hit by the attacker, they look at the ball.
• However, most of the information can be obtained from the attacker.
• Where is the ball going to be hit, how are the shoulders positioned?
• The task is to teach the players to look at the attacker after they have seen which attacker is being served by the distributor.

In this exercise

• The trainer stands behind the pair who are blocking.
• The trainer throws the ball over the net and the attackers hit the ball.
• This way the blocking players cannot follow the ball and have to look at the attacker.
• Of course, the trainer can make further technical improvements here, such as
  • Position of the hands,
  • what to do after the block landing
  • and the way to land.
• If the trainer wants to keep his or her hands free so that they can make technical improvements as the drill continues, either an attacker can throw the ball on one at a time, or the playmakers.

Variations are:

1. only an outside block
2. with a mid block
3. also place attackers at the midposition

The important thing is that the players focuson the attacker.