Designing a Drill
Posted on Dec 05, 2007 under Coaching Principles |Designing a drill may be as easy as borrowing someone else’s idea and modifying it to fit your program, or as difficult as starting from scratch. Either way, it is your team that you are training so the drill should be team-specific. What I usually do is come up with the problem that needs to be trained correctly (not as easy as it sounds).
The next thing I do is to write down some goals that I want the drill to achieve. I always try to put the drill in a game like condition. Although we do a lot of individual training, doing the 6 on 6 drills is going to reap the most rewards. Give the players a goal to reach in the drill. The goal can range from a certain number of perfect plays, a time limit, or to beat the other team.
Making the drill as competitive as possible will make it the most game like and will train competitiveness. For most drills in which the goal is a certain number I like to start the drill off a little easier so that we are all assured of achieving success. As the drill progresses you want to increase the difficulty and then back off to the easier standards to end the drill.
Example:
1. Problem - The outside hitters are getting blocked.
2. Goals - They need to add more shots and be able to tool the block.
3. Game-like situation - Have the attackers hit against a full defense. They will pass a ball in the middle and swing outside to hit, then transition and hit another ball.
4. Specific Goals - The outsides, as a group, must put away 15 balls against the defense. If they get blocked, the group will lose 2 points. The attacker may not use the same attack for both of her attacks. If the defense lets the ball drop without any effort, the outsides go back to zero.