You Knew Another Name For The Bump Set Spike Volleyball Drill is the Pepper Volleyball Drill, Right? 

When a player says "lets play the Bump Set Spike volleyball drill" they're a beginner who's probably had less than 6 months playing experience. An experienced player says
"let's pepper."

I think its funny when I hear young players say let's play the Bump Set Spike drill. 

Villanova team does the pepper drill during their pre-game warmup. (Char1lieJ) What is the bump set spike volleyball drill? When a player says "lets play Bump Set Spike" they're a beginner who's probably had less than 6 months playing experience. An experienced player would say "let's go pepper."

Because its clear when an inexperienced player who's just learning the game and the warmup drills says to their warmup partner "lets play the Bump Set Spike volleyball drill".

They haven't had enough time to learn the commonly used slang for a lot of the drills and skills done in practices.

An experienced player would just say two words to their warmup partner ...and those two words would be ..."let's pepper."

The Bump Set Spike volleyball drill which is also called the Pepper warmup drill is one of the first partner drills every high school and club player learns because its done to increase and improve your ability to control the ball using the bump set spike volleyball skills.

Every opportunity you have to touch the ball should be used to contact the ball correctly.

Many players take pepper for granted and since the ball is coming at them slowly, they flake, and ignore using the proper technique.

The bump set spike volleyball drill is usually started when one pepper partner standing 6-8 feet away from their partner overhand sets the ball to their partner. 

The second contact is usually a bump or a dig depending on how advanced the players are. These have to be "controlled" contacts meaning the set goes right to the partner, ideally without making the partner move.

The second contact is usually a bump or a dig depending on how advanced the players are.

These have to be "controlled" contacts meaning the set goes right to the partner, ideally without making the partner move. 

The pass (the bump) goes right back to the first partner who just set the ball, ideally targeting the ball to fall right on the forehead of the partner so they dont have to move or chase the ball. 

In private training sessions I make sure players remember...

• To bend your knees so your hips are below the level of the oncoming ball,
• Keep a straight platform with shoulders over your knees while digging
• although people like to call this a bump its actually a dig to be more precise 

Hitting the ball with a low elbow in pepper means you increase the chance you’ll hit the ball with a low elbow in hitting warm-ups and continue hitting the ball low in a game.

You want to do your controlled spike hit keeping your elbow high but controlling the ball to your partner instead of hitting the ball straight down the way you would when you are hitting over the net. 

This is how you control the ball keeping it in play between the two of you. 

Here are a few more tips for you to use during your bump set spike volleyball practice drills.

1. Practice keeping your elbow high during your pepper hitting armswing.
2. Imagine you have to clear the height of a net even when you pepper.
3. Contact the ball at its highest point, always reaching and extending your elbow high-while controlling the ball speed to your partner.  Your body remembers every movement you make especially while doing slow controlled movements. Hitting the ball low (by your ear) in pepper will mean there’s a good chance you’ll hit the ball low in hitting warmups and then continue to hit the ball low in a game. 

1. Set goals with your pepper partner.
2. Determine how many "pass-set-hit" combinations or in this case "bump-set-spike" volleyball contacts you both can do in a row while 

• controlling the ball 
• without either partner taking more than one step in any direction

Passing the ball with your legs, setting the ball high giving your partner time to swing and reach high to hit back at you... all these volleyball pepper techniques should be practiced in your pepper warmup so that at game time-- you've already performed these skills so many times that that your muscle memory is automatic and you begin to perform these skills the same way you need to perform them in competition.

Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out more of my volleyball passing articles by clicking one of the links below! (April Chapple)

Follow me on Instagram @coach_apchap to improve your game even faster!

I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.

Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.

If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list. 

Okay here's where you need to go now! There are three options: 

1. Learn more about Digging and Defense by clicking the Related Links below. .
2. Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
3. Or visit the pages in the How to Play Volleyball section in the drop down menu at the top of the page to get started. 
4. Before leaving this page Say "Hi" to Miss O.I Gotchu the Octopus wearing the #8 jersey below.  Miss O.I. is the libero for the All Beast VolleyBragSwag All Star team.

Miss O.I. Gotchu, the volleyball libero for the All Beast VolleyBragSwag All-Star team knows all about what is peppering in volleyball

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