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- The Best Volleyball Drills
- What's Peppering in Volleyball
What Is Peppering In Volleyball? A Pregame Defense Ball Control Drill
What is peppering in volleyball? A pregame or practice ball control drill with two players using pass, set, hit variations while keeping the ball off the floor.
What is peppering in volleyball?
Pepper is a warmup drill usually done by two players but can be done with three or more, at the beginning of practice and/or matches which focuses on controlling the ball using pass, set and a controlled hit variations without letting the ball hit the floor.
How do you pepper with your partner in volleyball?
One of the two pepper partners begins the drill by setting the ball to their partner who returns the ball with a bump set that's high enough so that their partner hits the ball back at them in a controlled fashion and then the bump set hit sequence begins all over again.
Variations of the pepper drill include:
- three person pepper as seen in the video above
- controlled pepper over the net
- full court pepper
- deep court pepper
- close to your partner pepper
What is Peppering in Volleyball?
Check out the
One Arm Pepper Drill
Check out this fun variation of the pepper drill we do In Boot Camp class....just use one arm to improve your ball control skills.
What does pepper do to improve your volleyball skills?
What is peppering in volleyball?
Volleyball pepper drills are the key especially, if you want to improve your defensive game and be a six rotation player who can play the entire match without having to come off the court.
I've chosen these two pepper skills that we regularly do in our Vegas Boot camp classes and clinics because they emphasize our type of volleyball training designed
- to increase the range of the court you cover in defense
- improve digging ball control
Here are two tips on how to get the most out of peppering in volleyball
1. Practice with someone bigger and better than you are
2. Use the Pepper drill to increase spiking and digging intensity while maintaining ball control
Let's dig deeper into these tactics...
Practice With Someone Bigger and Better Than You Are
What is peppering in volleyball?
When you get the chance to pepper with a guy or girl with good ball control skills, do it. Always.
Playing with a player or someone bigger, better or stronger than you are, you learn how to be a better, stronger, faster defensive volleyball player in a shorter amount of time.
I have coed Boot Camp classes on purpose so that girls learn to pepper and defend against bigger faster guys their age or older.
Guys hit harder and move faster and have an aggressive attitude that girls need to adopt while digging and playing defense.
Surround yourself with people/players who are better than you are, learn from them and have them make you work hard and challenge you and you will become a better volleyball player alot faster.
Thanks for visiting. Be sure to check out more of my volleyball passing articles by clicking one of the links below! (April Chapple)Do You Follow Me on Pinterest?
Private or semiprivate volleyball indoor/sand lessons are an excellent way for young Las Vegas high school volleyball players to quickly improve their individual skills through a private or semi-private coaching experience.
These lessons are conducted by former pro volleyball player, former USA Volleyball High Performance instructor and Evaluator and Tstreet Vegas 18s head Coach April Chapple on a weekly basis.
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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.
What Is Peppering in Volleyball:
Where Do You Go Now?
Okay here's where you need to go now! There are three options:
- Learn more about Digging and Defense by clicking the Related Links below. .
- Follow the suggested reading on our Sitemap page Learning How To Play (Sitemap)
- 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.
- 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.
You might like these volleyball digging pages.
Volleyball Ball Control Drills 5 Ways You Can Practice Basic Skills
These 5 volleyball ball control drills will help you improve your passing setting and hitting technique using reps, wide vision, quickness and ball control
7 Youth Volleyball Drills How To Improve Ball Control Skills At Home
I have a series of youth volleyball drills you can use to improve your basic ball control skills like passing, setting and controlled hitting.
The Name For The Bump Set Spike Volleyball Drill is The Pepper Drill
When a player says "lets play the Bump Set Spike volleyball drill" they're a beginner while an experienced player says to their practice partner 'let's pepper'
Here's How You Do 3 Versions of My Servers vs Passers Volleyball Drill
My servers vs passers volleyball drill can be as simple as skinny court coach or player server vs passer or as complex as full court two passers vs two servers.
Volleyball Drills For Serving Overhand, Float and Jump Serve Technique
These volleyball drills for serving help you to work on getting the ball to specific zones on the opposing team's court using the float serve and jump serve.
Volleyball Defensive Drills You Can Do To Help Your Dig Ball Control
3 hitting and digging volleyball defensive drills that you can do at home to help increase your ball control skills when playing defense in the back court.
How To Practice Volleyball Alone: Solo Drills That Build Real Skills
Learn how to practice volleyball alone with wall drills, progressions and weekly one-player training schedules to improve passing, setting, serving & hitting.
5 Hitting Volleyball Drills Helping You Learn To Hit The Ball Harder
With these hitting volleyball drills, you have to adopt a fearless and aggressive attitude when it comes to spiking the ball against a two person block.
Two Hitting Drills Volleyball Players Do To Learn To Beat The Block
Here are two hitting drills volleyball players use in our practices to teach our hitters how to beat the block while hitting or attacking at the net.
3 Hitting Drills For Volleyball Hitters To Improve Their Armswing Fast
Learning how to improve your armswing speed to create power is the focus of my 3 hitting drills for volleyball hitters wanting to score against big blockers.
Volleyball Drills For Hitting Faster Quicker Sets Like Go's Huts, 31s
In these volleyball drills for hitting we are working on taking a three-step, four-step or even a two-step approach in order to get to quicker faster sets.
Volleyball Drills For Outside Hitters Fast Sets To The Outside Zone 5
Some of these volleyball drills for outside hitters are great for wroking on hitting timing and fast armswing for fast sets like the Hut and the Go To Zone 5.
Volleyball Hitter Drills: From Beginner to Champion-Level Attacking
Learn the volleyball hitter drills that I teach my club players with proven techniques that took me from high school novice to confident state champion finalist
If your athlete struggles with consistent serve receive, gets subbed out, or is overlooked for playing time—this is the fix you’ve been looking for.
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AUTHOR BIO
April Chapple is an elite private volleyball trainer, former USA National Team member, and University of Tennessee Hall of Fame inductee who has coached in Las Vegas for 15+ years, training hundreds of athletes and helping numerous players reach college volleyball, including Division I standouts.
She's also the head coach for girls and boys 18s at Squad VBC and offers coaches consulting on technical teaching and player development. Connect with April on LinkedIn or at ImproveYourVolley.com, where her eye for overlooked talent sets her apart.
From Lady Vol to Legend: Coach April Honored At UTK Champions Weekend
Lady Vol volleyball legend and record holder Coach April Chapple a University of Tennessee, Knoxville Hall of Fame Inductee, 3-time All American, 3-time SEC Champion, SEC Tournament MVP, 2-time All SEC Team is celebrated with her 1984 SEC champion teammates at Neyland Stadium during Champions Weekend on November 1-2, 2024.
- the first First Round Draft Pick for the first American pro indoor women's league
- named to the first First Team All-Pro team for Major League Volleyball in USA volleyball history
- former USA National team member
- one of the few American women players named as an Italian Pro League D-I Championship Finalist, Italian Cup Finalist and Cup of Cups Tournament Finalist
April Chapple The first First round Draft Pick For Major League Volleyball the first American Women's Pro League Honored At Athlete Unlimited Pro Volleyball Match
Coach April's 2026-27 Private and Semi private Volleyball Training
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Invest in your improvement while preepping for your next level and college goals while working hard and training smart.
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Complete Beginner Serving System: The Ultimate Support System for Beginners
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✓Know exactly what to ask coaches to show you're engaged and help your player develop properly.
✓Simple, effective drills that don't require a gym or expensive equipment.
✓Understand the language coaches use so you can better support your player's development.
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From Lady Vol to Legend: Coach April Produces Powerful Passionate Players...is that you?
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🎯Parent's Volleyball Serving Checklist Guide
Parents! Help Your Player Develop Championship Serves (Even If You've Never Played)
Hi there!
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you learned something today that will help you reach your volleyball goals.
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Congratulations to my seven Boys-18s Vegas Volley club players who played in two state championship finals yesterday, the 3A and 5A State champinship finals at Sunrise Mountain High School.
TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS!
A-1 Vegas Volley VBC
In It To Win It Tournament
May 2 - 4, 2025 Tournament
Gold Medalists
18s Premier Division
Vegas Volleyball's Unsung Heroes: Celebrating Moms with Peace Love Volleyball Shirts
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