Volleyball drills and tips for beginners

Posts Tagged ‘Volleyball agility drills’

Reactive agility may be the most underrated and underused training method for athletes. Think about it, how often in a game does Allen Iverson or Ladanian Tomlinson know where a defender will be, how fast they will be attacking them, and from what angle? The answer is they don’t. They rely on their gifts of instinct and reaction to their environment to make a highlight move. Moves like this cannot be taught, you either have it or you don’t, right?
Wrong!
Reactive agility can be the bridge that links training for a sport and actually playing the sport well. We have all seen the athletes who look like Tarzan and play like Jane. It is frustrating to see these players do so well in off-season training and, when game time comes, they are performing under expectations, or worse, they are watching the game from the sidelines. We eliminate this problem for our athletes by utilizing reactive agility as one aspect of our entire agility progression.
Recent studies have shown that better players have better reactive agility. One study found that an athlete’s reactive agility was the only significant factor determining performance. (1) It is the decision-making aspect, and the reaction to an external cue, in these drills that make them so beneficial. Incorporating these drills will improve play on the field or court by helping the athlete react faster and anticipate the next move of the opponent.
Here are a few of our athlete’s favorite reactive agility drills. Our guys love these drills because they have fun, and it doesn’t seem like dreadful work to them. We love these drills as coaches because it breeds competition and you get to see who is willing to compete.

Partner Lane Slides: This drill is effective because it closely mimics actual sport moves. Watching the video you can envision defending an opponent in basketball, soccer, or volleyball. Easy set-up and the ability to perform it almost anywhere puts this drill on our top three:

4-Corner Agility Drill: This is another one-on-one drill, but now the athletes can move in multiple directions. We try to time the work to rest ratio to match the sport the best we can. Example: most football plays last 6 seconds with a 30 second rest between plays, or a 1:5 work to rest ratio. This increases the carryover to the sport that coaches and players love. The drill only involves 6 cones and we like to set up a few stations if a large number of athletes need reps.

Mat Drills: This can be timed in a specific ratio as stated above, or as a conditioning tool by going longer. Florida State, Georgia and many other top programs use this regularly in the off-season group training as a way to enhance toughness, conditioning, competition, team cohesion, and of course…reactive agility.

1.J Sci Med Sport. 2006 Aug;9(4):342-9. Epub 2006 Jul 17

Josh and Tyler Fagan have dedicated most of their lives to helping young athletes improve their game through sound strength and conditioning training progression principles. Check out the site at www.ImprovingAthletes.com and sign up for their free newsletter.

By: Josh Fagan MS, CSCS

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