AVCA Video Tip of the Week: Drill for a Broken Play

The drill you’ll see here, run by Penn State in preseason practice, puts pressure on players to execute three skills in succession: 1. Serve the ball in the court. 2. Make a dig off a hard-driven ball. 3. Hit the ball over the net and into the court with topspin. One of the main objectives of this drill is for players to give the opposing team something more challenging than a free ball on a broken play. A point is subtracted for each error — one for missing the serve, another for not making a dig, another for not hitting the ball in the court. So the worst-case scenario is finishing a turn with a score of minus three. The punishment for a negative point total? Two pushups and two crunches for each minus point. This video is brought to you by The Art of Coaching Volleyball.