Your Yes I Can Gold Gift Message
January 17th, 2008 at 6:32 amTeaching Your Defense to Read
and React
-By Dave Cross
A Question for Dave:
What do I do with an 18 open team that does,
hasn't and can't react or move to the ball. The
girls are athletic enough. I cant determine if
they can't read or they are lazy, taught wrong or
what. Any ideas? Any drills for a 2 hour
practice?
Dave's Reply:
Here's what I do, from their base defense
position against each attack: (Example: vs. a SS
attack in a rotation defense, MB is on the same
sideline and LB is on the opposite sideline)
1. Teach them to lineup their nose to the hitting
shoulder of the attacker. (Nose is at the midline
of the body). Do this by putting a player on the
court by themselves at center back. Stand at the
net (on their side) and teach them to move to the
hitting shoulder (line up the nose), then as the
hitting hand comes forward they shift to lineup
their nose to the hitting hand. At contact, they
then line their nose up to the ball-so it goes
shoulder, hand, ball. The adjustments are small
(half step one way or the other most times) but it
puts them in the best position to play the
ball-(tell them to keep moving until they get the
ball lined up with their nose)
You start out slow with mechanical adjustments,
moving them left and right from the middle back
spot. As they start to get it, adjust more quickly
and move them further from side to side. Whenever
they don't read right and are out of position,
stop the drill and walk them through where they
should have been for that particular ball.
I finish this part of the teaching by running
each girl through a pit drill, applying these
reading cues. At the end I point out to them that
they covered the whole court by themselves by
reading these cues. Then I point out that in a
team defense, they are only responsible for about
a third of the court-(with a double block, there
are four players left to cover the court-take out
the area the block is taking away and it leaves
about a little less than a fourth of the court for
each player to take as their "zone".)
2. Once they get this idea, apply it to your team
defense. Show them their area of reponsibilities
for a strong side attack first. The key then is to
get them to use this reading concept to get to the
part of their zone that the hitter is most likely
to hit the ball to from the read of their
approach-shoulder, hand, ball. For example, stand
on a box at left front, and tell them that the way
you are positioned is the angle of the approach you
would have taken-so they lineup their nose to your
shoulder, then have them go to the hand and then
the ball as you hit it an attack. If you are
squared to the line, middle back would be in that
corner, and left back would slide to the far
inside of their zone of responsibility-it is very
unlikely a hitter is going to cut sharp cross to
the left sideline from this position-again, you
are playing the probability of where the attack
will go. From this position, cut one to the left
side-invariably it'll go to the inside of the
LB's zone. Then, do the opposite, position
yourself so your shoulders are facing sharp cross.
This time the LB should be on the sideline, and
the MB should slide to the inside of their zone
toward the middle of the court. Cut one toward the
rightback corner-invariably it'll go toward the
inside of the MB's zone.
This gets them to see that if they read the
shoulder during the approach and then the hand and
ball during the swing/contact, they will be in the
area of their zone that the hitter is most likely
to hit the ball to. They are playing the
percentages-or probability of where the ball will
go-and will be in the best percentage to play the
vast majority of the balls that could come out of
that particular situation.
(Of course, you then get everyone not blocking
doing the same thing in their area)
3. Then go to them using this concept to defend a
hitter attacking a set. Make sure they understand
that as they are shifting, they stop at the
shoulder of the block-you don't want them sliding
behind the block. But, if the block is over matched
and the hitter is constantly going through or over
it-then you tell them to forget stopping at the
shoulder and to move right to where the
"shoulder, hand, ball" are taking them in their
zone.
4. Another key point to make to them as you teach
this is to ask them how many times they are a half
step out of position to play an attack-and how
much a difference that makes in their ability to
dig the ball. The point out to them that this
method will eliminate that half-step they are out
of position (or cut a full step into a half-step)
and get them in the best position possible to play
each ball-thus leading to more digs.
5. Finally, you go to your full defense vs. a
full offense-again, make sure to stop them and
explain what the read should have been each time
they don't read right-then show them by hitting a
downball from the position the hitters shoulders
where pointing to.
6. As they catch on, then get them to read the
shoulder rotation of each hitter individually-some
hitters rotate to square at contact, some don't.
If a hitter rotates to square on contact, then
they adjust the line coming from the hitters
shoulder to their nose so that as the hitter
plants with their shoulders open to the setter,
they are aligned to where the shoulders will
rotate to upon contact.
(This may sound complicated, but it's really
not. Just take it slowly step-by-step and it all
becomes very clear)
If the ball is hit in their zone, The Ultimate
key is to get them to keep moving until the ball
is between their hips (again that's aligned with
their nose). Most times, kids "plant" to early
and then can't get their feet moving quickly
enough to make that last split-second adjustment
in time.
Now, against a really quick offense they have
less time to adjust-so many times they do simply
have to get their base spot against an attack from
the area it's coming from and try to adjust
quickly to the angle-if a hitter always takes a
certain angle to a quick set-they can then read
that and go straight to that spot when they
transition from base.
As for reading roll shots and tips, I teach them
to read the timing between the hitters approach
and the height of the ball. If the hitter is going
to get to the ball late (it's going to be too low
to swing at) it's going to be a tip or a roll.
As for tips that are on balls the hitter could
have swung at-I teach them to look at the hitting
elbow-which they can do while reading the hitting
hand-if the elbow comes in front of the ear
early-it's gonna be a tip-you can't hit that
way.
-Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball
-By Dave Cross
A Question for Dave:
What do I do with an 18 open team that does,
hasn't and can't react or move to the ball. The
girls are athletic enough. I cant determine if
they can't read or they are lazy, taught wrong or
what. Any ideas? Any drills for a 2 hour
practice?
Dave's Reply:
Here's what I do, from their base defense
position against each attack: (Example: vs. a SS
attack in a rotation defense, MB is on the same
sideline and LB is on the opposite sideline)
1. Teach them to lineup their nose to the hitting
shoulder of the attacker. (Nose is at the midline
of the body). Do this by putting a player on the
court by themselves at center back. Stand at the
net (on their side) and teach them to move to the
hitting shoulder (line up the nose), then as the
hitting hand comes forward they shift to lineup
their nose to the hitting hand. At contact, they
then line their nose up to the ball-so it goes
shoulder, hand, ball. The adjustments are small
(half step one way or the other most times) but it
puts them in the best position to play the
ball-(tell them to keep moving until they get the
ball lined up with their nose)
You start out slow with mechanical adjustments,
moving them left and right from the middle back
spot. As they start to get it, adjust more quickly
and move them further from side to side. Whenever
they don't read right and are out of position,
stop the drill and walk them through where they
should have been for that particular ball.
I finish this part of the teaching by running
each girl through a pit drill, applying these
reading cues. At the end I point out to them that
they covered the whole court by themselves by
reading these cues. Then I point out that in a
team defense, they are only responsible for about
a third of the court-(with a double block, there
are four players left to cover the court-take out
the area the block is taking away and it leaves
about a little less than a fourth of the court for
each player to take as their "zone".)
2. Once they get this idea, apply it to your team
defense. Show them their area of reponsibilities
for a strong side attack first. The key then is to
get them to use this reading concept to get to the
part of their zone that the hitter is most likely
to hit the ball to from the read of their
approach-shoulder, hand, ball. For example, stand
on a box at left front, and tell them that the way
you are positioned is the angle of the approach you
would have taken-so they lineup their nose to your
shoulder, then have them go to the hand and then
the ball as you hit it an attack. If you are
squared to the line, middle back would be in that
corner, and left back would slide to the far
inside of their zone of responsibility-it is very
unlikely a hitter is going to cut sharp cross to
the left sideline from this position-again, you
are playing the probability of where the attack
will go. From this position, cut one to the left
side-invariably it'll go to the inside of the
LB's zone. Then, do the opposite, position
yourself so your shoulders are facing sharp cross.
This time the LB should be on the sideline, and
the MB should slide to the inside of their zone
toward the middle of the court. Cut one toward the
rightback corner-invariably it'll go toward the
inside of the MB's zone.
This gets them to see that if they read the
shoulder during the approach and then the hand and
ball during the swing/contact, they will be in the
area of their zone that the hitter is most likely
to hit the ball to. They are playing the
percentages-or probability of where the ball will
go-and will be in the best percentage to play the
vast majority of the balls that could come out of
that particular situation.
(Of course, you then get everyone not blocking
doing the same thing in their area)
3. Then go to them using this concept to defend a
hitter attacking a set. Make sure they understand
that as they are shifting, they stop at the
shoulder of the block-you don't want them sliding
behind the block. But, if the block is over matched
and the hitter is constantly going through or over
it-then you tell them to forget stopping at the
shoulder and to move right to where the
"shoulder, hand, ball" are taking them in their
zone.
4. Another key point to make to them as you teach
this is to ask them how many times they are a half
step out of position to play an attack-and how
much a difference that makes in their ability to
dig the ball. The point out to them that this
method will eliminate that half-step they are out
of position (or cut a full step into a half-step)
and get them in the best position possible to play
each ball-thus leading to more digs.
5. Finally, you go to your full defense vs. a
full offense-again, make sure to stop them and
explain what the read should have been each time
they don't read right-then show them by hitting a
downball from the position the hitters shoulders
where pointing to.
6. As they catch on, then get them to read the
shoulder rotation of each hitter individually-some
hitters rotate to square at contact, some don't.
If a hitter rotates to square on contact, then
they adjust the line coming from the hitters
shoulder to their nose so that as the hitter
plants with their shoulders open to the setter,
they are aligned to where the shoulders will
rotate to upon contact.
(This may sound complicated, but it's really
not. Just take it slowly step-by-step and it all
becomes very clear)
If the ball is hit in their zone, The Ultimate
key is to get them to keep moving until the ball
is between their hips (again that's aligned with
their nose). Most times, kids "plant" to early
and then can't get their feet moving quickly
enough to make that last split-second adjustment
in time.
Now, against a really quick offense they have
less time to adjust-so many times they do simply
have to get their base spot against an attack from
the area it's coming from and try to adjust
quickly to the angle-if a hitter always takes a
certain angle to a quick set-they can then read
that and go straight to that spot when they
transition from base.
As for reading roll shots and tips, I teach them
to read the timing between the hitters approach
and the height of the ball. If the hitter is going
to get to the ball late (it's going to be too low
to swing at) it's going to be a tip or a roll.
As for tips that are on balls the hitter could
have swung at-I teach them to look at the hitting
elbow-which they can do while reading the hitting
hand-if the elbow comes in front of the ear
early-it's gonna be a tip-you can't hit that
way.
-Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball