Hit And Dig Volleyball Drills My Players Do To Improve Digging Skills

If you want to improve your digging skills here are 4 ways I do one of my favorite dig volleyball drills called the Hit and Dig drill done for beginners and advanced.

The Hit and Dig drill is one of the dig volleyball drills I really like to do in my private trainings, boot camp classes and Breakfast club clinics because it focuses on improving hitting arm swing technique and digging timing and technique for players who like you, want to get better at getting hard hit balls up in the back row. 

Want to improve your defensive digging skills in the back row? The hit and dig volleyball drills that I do in my practices are a great way to work on improving your digging skills.

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Controlled Hit and Catch Your Dig Drill with Aubrey, Izzy and Piper.

👉🏾Hitter-Left hand toss - right hand controlled swing to your partner

👉🏾Digger digs controlling the ball so it’s 10-12 feet in the air and 1-2 feet in front of them

👉🏾Digger goal is to only have to take one step (or less) to catch the ball after the dig.

👉🏾Digger must catch the ball no matter where it is

✔️Keep elbow high when contacting the ball “at 12 o’clock” with a controlled armswing

✔️Keep hip open until you begin your swing to contact the ball to hit..

✔️Avoid swinging your arms (platform) when digging.. otherwise you end up chasing an uncontrolled balls

When you are digging in the Hit and Dig drill you should be working on five things

🏐first getting the hips under the ball fast

🏐second keeping arms further away from the body (you should be able to fit a volleyball under your arm pits-that's the perfect distance!)

🏐third digging the ball from a lower point without rising out of your/her squat

Two keys to remember..

🏐eliminate extra body movements that don’t help you perform the skill

🏐get comfortable staying lower to the floor

This is my advanced way to do the traditional dig volleyball drill which is a version of the traditional pepper drill where you... set and hit pepper drill which I often use in practice and training sessions. This version makes the pepper drill become

• an even more fast paced volleyball drill where
• players are forced to train their ball control skills
• to challenge each others quick reaction abilities
• while performing the hit and dig skills at a technically high level

The pepper drill is normally done in a someone sets, then someone passes then someone hits followed by someone digging order, then wash rinse repeat..do it again.

In my version how about we break the rules and we have one partner dig to self, set to self then control hit the ball to their partner.

So now it becomes hit and dig pepper....(insert evil coach grin here..)

See how many consecutive dig/set/hits you can do in a row with your pepper partner.  

This is definitely for more advanced players with good ball control skills who can hit (or who wants to work on hitting) the ball to a new target every time the ball is dug back to them.

Another version of this Hit and Dig Pepper drill that we do is to work on improving player ball control skills by having each pepper partner dig to themselves then hit to their partner....then partner does the same.

Start with a controlled down ball to your partner with the ball aimed at dropping  a little higher than usual so between belly button and top of thighs....

So dig to yourself and the dig becomes a set for you to control hit to your pepper partner who does the same back to you.

Look ma..no setting hands...

What does this do?

Now you and your partner have touched the ball twice using two different skills in rapid succession which trains the brain to think and act quickly while staying in control.  

If you're the outside hitter in a long rally and you need to put the ball way to score a point for your team, you'll need to be able to hit the ball to different spots on the court....

....meanwhile if you're the defensive player in a long rally you need to be able to read and be in the right spot at the right time.....that's what this digging drill is working on..

Do the same version I explain in the previous paragraph but now the digger (in the video its Jacob) has to move to a different spot on the court after he hits to Sierra Leone...and Sierra Leone has to "find" her target and be able to hit right at Jacob.

Do this for time and then partners flip flop so now in the above video Sierra Leone has switched with Jacob and has to move to different spots on the court. 

Want to improve your defensive digging skills in the back row? The hit and dig volleyball drills that I do in my practices are a great way to work on improving your digging skills.

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. 

1. Improve Your Volleyball Playing with Private Head Coach April Chapple
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2. Hit And Dig Volleyball Drills My Players Do To Improve Digging Skills
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