Volleyball drills for youth teams, with video, setup and coaching points, grouped by passing, setting, serving, blocking and defense. For 8U to 14U.
3 drills · 26 minutes if you ran them all
Use this as the full practice warm up: a light jog, dynamic stretches for hips, hamstrings and calves, shoulder circles and arm swings, then footwork patterns like shuffles, crossovers and approach jumps. Finish with partner pepper so the first ball contact is already warm.
Start slow and finish fast. The last three minutes should look like the first drill of practice.
Watch: USA VolleyballLine the team up on the end line and run the short pre match routine: jog and skip to the net and back, lunges with a twist, leg swings, lateral shuffles, and a few quick jumps. Keep it moving with no standing around so the whole thing fits in five minutes.
Move with purpose and get the heart rate up. Every rep should look like volleyball: low, balanced, ready to move.
Watch: USA VolleyballBefore any serving or hitting, players stand in a line and go through arm circles forward and back, Y, T and W arm raises, and wall slides. Ten slow reps of each with the shoulder blades pulled down and back.
Slow and controlled, squeeze the shoulder blades together. This protects the arm so do it every single practice.
Watch: USA Volleyball6 drills · 58 minutes if you ran them all
Set up a server, a passer and a target on each side of the net. The server serves, the passer passes to the target, who catches and carries the ball to the serving line on the other side. Everyone follows the ball: server becomes passer, passer becomes target, target becomes server, so the group rotates in a figure eight.
Passers call mine early and face the target before contact. Keep the ball moving so the next server is ready as soon as the pass lands.
Watch: USA VolleyballA coach or partner stands on a box or hits down balls from across the net at a defender in a low ready position. The digger plays the ball up high off a flat platform toward the middle of the court, staying low through the contact. Six balls each, then rotate.
Stay low and stopped before the hitter contacts. Dig it high and to the middle so your setter has a chance.
Watch: USA VolleyballPartners face each other about 15 feet apart. One tosses an easy ball and the other passes it back with a flat forearm platform, knees bent, arms away from the body and shoulders facing the target. Ten tosses each, then both players pass back and forth without catching.
Platform early, feet to the ball, and angle the arms to the target. Let the legs do the work, not an arm swing.
Watch: USA VolleyballCoach tosses or easy serves from across the net to one passer at a time, with a setter as the target. Work the cues from the video: ready position before the serve, read the server, beat the ball to the spot, and finish with the platform frozen at the target. Five balls each and rotate.
Be stopped and balanced when the ball arrives. Freeze your platform at the target after every pass.
Watch: USA VolleyballPartners toss high balls to each other from about 15 feet and the receiver takes them overhead with hands up early and firm, like a big set. Progress to the tosser lobbing a soft free ball over the net while the passer takes it overhead to a target.
Hands up early, elbows out, take it in front of the forehead. Push through the ball with both hands evenly.
Watch: USA VolleyballPut three passers in serve receive against a line of servers. Before each serve the passers call out what they see: the server's toss and contact, then the ball's flight, and then pass to the setter. Rotate passers after every five serves.
Watch the server, not the net. Say what you see out loud so your eyes get to the ball before your feet have to.
Watch: USA Volleyball4 drills · 34 minutes if you ran them all
Run the setter through live serve receive with passers: she watches the serve, reads the pass as it leaves the platform, and releases to the ball early. After each set the coach asks what she saw first. Rotate setters every six balls.
Eyes on the passer's platform, not just the ball. The earlier you read the pass, the easier the set.
Watch: USA VolleyballCoach tosses balls short, deep and off the net while the setter moves from her base position to get under each one and sets to a target at the antenna. Focus on getting to the spot and stopping with the right foot forward before the hands touch the ball. Eight balls each.
Beat the ball to the spot and stop. Right foot forward, hips facing the target, then set.
Watch: USA VolleyballPlayers partner up and work hand shape: ball shaped hands above the forehead, fingers spread, contact with the pads of the fingers and extend through. Start with catch and push sets, then quick sets back and forth, then sets to a target from a tossed ball.
Make a window with your hands and take the ball in front of your forehead. Push with all ten fingers and finish with your hands pointing at the target.
Watch: USA VolleyballThree players form a triangle about 10 to 12 feet apart. Player one passes to player two, who sets to player three, who catches and restarts, with everyone rotating one spot after each round. Progress to continuous setting around the triangle with no catches.
Square your shoulders to where the ball is going before it arrives. Hands up early and finish with the arms extended to the target.
Watch: USA Volleyball4 drills · 38 minutes if you ran them all
Teach the float serve: toss with little or no spin, contact the ball dead center with a stiff hand, and stop the arm short rather than wrapping the follow through. Players serve ten in a row from wherever they can clear the net and count how many knuckle or wobble on the way over.
Hit the middle of the ball with a flat hand and stop your hand at the ball. No spin means the ball moves.
Watch: USA VolleyballPlayers partner up across the net at a short distance, inside the attack lines, and serve to each other working the basics: opposite foot forward, a low controlled toss in front of the hitting shoulder, elbow high, and a firm open hand through the middle of the ball. Back up a few steps every five good serves until they reach the end line.
Toss low and in front, hit it with a firm hand and freeze the follow through at your target. If the toss is bad, let it drop and toss again.
Watch: USA VolleyballEach player serves from the end line, then immediately sprints under the net to catch or touch the ball before it bounces twice on the other side. Run it as a continuous line with a cart of balls so nobody waits long. Score one point per good serve and a bonus for beating the ball.
Serve, then go: no admiring your serve. This builds the habit of moving to defense right after the contact.
Watch: USA VolleyballPlayers serve in pairs across the net while the coach walks the line checking the three keys: a consistent toss, a strong contact through the ball, and a target picked before the toss. Place cones or towels in zones one, five and six and have servers call their target before each serve.
Same toss every time, call your zone out loud, then hit it hard through the ball. Consistency beats power.
Watch: USA Volleyball3 drills · 26 minutes if you ran them all
Hitters attack from a box or a coach toss while one or two blockers work on timing: jump just after the hitter, penetrate the hands over the net, and seal the gap. Keep score of touches and stuff blocks for each blocker, five swings each.
Jump a beat after the hitter and reach over, not up. Press the hands toward the ball and look through your arms.
Watch: USA VolleyballA hitter attacks tosses from a coach while a blocker across the net practices reading in order: ball, setter, ball, hitter. The blocker calls out where the set is going, moves, and blocks. Rotate blockers every five swings.
Ball, setter, ball, hitter. Watch the hitter's shoulders and arm for the last second, not the ball.
Watch: USA VolleyballPlayers line up at the net in a ready position with hands up at shoulder height. On the coach's signal they shuffle or crossover two steps, jump, and press both hands over the net with fingers spread, then land and reset. Work both directions, ten jumps each.
Hands start high and finish over the net, not swinging. Land balanced and ready to move again.
Watch: USA Volleyball5 drills · 61 minutes if you ran them all
Play four on four on a full court, with the coach entering a free ball to start each rally. Award a bonus point for any ball that lands deep in the back third of the opponent's court, so players learn to serve, pass and attack deep instead of short.
Three contacts and send it deep. Talk on every ball: mine, help, free.
Watch: USA VolleyballNo net needed: a third player stands between two players with arms up as the net. The two play a one on one rally over the human net, and whoever loses the rally becomes the net. Great for small spaces, warm ups, or when the gym is crowded.
Control the ball to yourself before you send it over. Quick games, quick rotations, everyone plays.
Watch: USA VolleyballSplit the court in half lengthwise with a line of cones or tape and play two on two on each narrow court. Serve to start, three contacts required, and rotate teams every few points so everyone plays. The narrow court means lots of touches and lots of deep balls.
Pass, set, hit every time, even if the hit is a controlled roll shot. Call every ball and cover your partner.
Watch: USA VolleyballPlay a regular six on six scrimmage, but pick one skill you worked on today, like an in system pass or a block touch, and award a bonus point every time a team does it. Play to 15 and change the bonus skill every game.
Play the whole rally hard, and chase the bonus skill on purpose. The scoreboard tells them what matters today.
Watch: USA VolleyballSix on six or four on four with a coach holding a cart of balls. The moment a rally ends the coach immediately enters the next ball to the team that lost the point, so there is no pause and players have to get back to base fast. Play to a set score.
The next ball is coming right now, so recover to your spot and get ready. No celebrating, no sulking, just play.
Watch: USA Volleyball5 drills · 54 minutes if you ran them all
Players line up at the attack line with a ball each. One at a time they self toss, take a short approach and hit the ball over the net into the court, then shag their own ball and rejoin the line. Lower the net for younger players so they can feel the ball go over.
Toss in front of your hitting shoulder, jump and swing fast. Aim deep into the court, not at the net.
Watch: USA VolleyballTeach the arm swing without a net first: players stand sideways, draw the elbow back high with the opposite hand up, then throw the hand over the top of a tossed ball, snapping the wrist. Progress to partner tossing and hitting down balls to each other across the net.
Elbow high and back, reach up, snap the wrist over the top. Hit the ball at the top of your reach.
Watch: USA VolleyballHave hitters attack sets from a coach toss while working one key at a time: a fast last two steps, both arms driving up on the jump, and a loose, fast arm with a high contact. Give each hitter three swings on each key and have a partner call out the one thing that looked best.
Fast feet into the jump, both arms up, then whip the arm. Power comes from speed, not from muscling the ball.
Watch: USA VolleyballMark the approach starting spot outside the sideline near the attack line. Players walk through the three or four step approach, arms swinging back then up, then jog it, then run it full speed to a toss from a setter or coach and hit over the net. Rotate through a line of six to eight.
Start outside the court, slow to fast, last two steps are the biggest. Arms back on the second to last step and up on the jump.
Watch: USA VolleyballCoach tosses a free ball over the net to a passer, who passes to the setter, who sets the hitter in the left front position. The hitter approaches and attacks over the net while the next passer steps in. Rotate passer to hitter to shagger.
Good pass, good set, good hit: each contact makes the next one easier. Hitters wait and start the approach as the set goes up.
Watch: USA VolleyballVideos are linked, not hosted, and belong to USA Volleyball. Drill write-ups are by Cheat Code Coaching. Durations are what we run them at with a youth team; adjust for your group.
Every drill here is already in the Cheat Code Teams Practice Builder for Youth Volleyball. Drag them into a plan, tap Start practice, and the clock, the whistle and the next drill are on your phone and your lock screen.