Four Types of Volleyball Drills For Digging Balls Up Under Pressure

These four types of volleyball drills for digging turn up the heat and puts the digger under pressure to dig a playable ball that the setter can run a play with

Be sure to bookmark this page because I talk about the following four volleyball drills for digging which are ways to improve your digging skills while being put under pressure in fast paced drills The types of volleyball drills for digging are...

• Pressure Repetitive Hitting Drill
• Hitter vs Digger No Block Drill 
• One Hand Set Pepper Drill
• 3 Step And Dive Digging Drill

One digger is placed in the middle of the court with myself and one or two of my assistant coaches on the same side of the net as the diggers.

Coaches are in Zone 4 and Zone 2 and sometimes in Zone 3. 

Hitters and diggers half court distance apart.

What are we working on in this drill?

Players are working on reading the ball -getting information from the spiker's arm and at the same time reacting quickly but under control while digging the ball high in a high intensity pressured situation. 

Players are also working on

• hips dropping lower than the oncoming ball
• eyes focusing on spiker's hitting arm for quick second then keying in on the oncoming spiked ball and its travel path,
• keeping platform arms straight with no bent elbows and away from the body...closer to the ball
• making a playable ball 8 -10 feet in the air..
• after the dig working on making a quick quarter turn to face the next coach that's hitting

Winner scores 10 points first

Hitter hits hard deep cross court and scores a point when digger can’t touch it or digs an unplayable ball.

Digger scores a point when they dig a playable ball.

For beginners hitter errors may not count but for more advanced players hits in the net or out of bounds are points scored for the digger.

Hitters working on

• -reducing unforced errors 
• -consistently hitting deep and sharp cross court angles 

Diggers working on

• -reading the hitter 
• -fearless reaction to the ball while not letting any balls fall to the ground without reacting to them 
• -keeping hips low while playing the ball 
• -winning the game in defense 
• 
  

Variations include adding 1 or 2 blockers the hitter has to beat in addition to the one digger

D-1 players Giselle (Duke) and Sisi (Arkansas Tech) work on this one handed set, then hit, then dig fast paced drill. 

One player works while the other digs for time or for a pre-determined number of reps...they the partners switch. 

I set up a hitting line in left front and instead of hitting all the hitters practice tipping the ball over a real or imaginary block to the ten foot line while...

A group of diggers go one by one ..starting in their base position in defense, then moving to their adjusted position as they watch the setter set the ball outside.

They let the hitter commit to their armswing before taking their first of three steps towards the ball..lowering their body to the ground as they take each step getting closer to the ball.  

For right handers ..the left hand goes down to the ground while right hand plays the ball. 

Left handers reverse. 

I don't do this drill with beginners or people who just start out with me...I do this drill with players who've been with me for quite awhile or who have experience playing advanced volleyball. 

One of the things I really have players work on is taking a big first step followed by big and fast steps to get across the half court as fast as possible..covering a lot of ground in a short amount of time. 

These four types of volleyball drills for digging turn up the heat and puts the digger under pressure to dig a playable ball that the setter can run a play with

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
 ›
2. Volleyball Drills for Setters, Hitters, Liberos, Passers and Blockers
 ›
3. Four Types of Volleyball Drills For Digging Balls Up Under Pressure

ShareFacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrRedditWhatsApp