Email Campaign Archive

A Fundamental Progression to Improve Passing at Any Level

-By Dave Cross


A Question for Dave:

I am about to begin my season as coach for a
Charter School. The team is mostly made up of 6 and
7 graders who have little to no experience in the
sport. I am looking for a detailed progression for
forearm passing to use with the girls. Just
wondering if you have any advice for this?


Dave's Reply:

At our camps we use the following progression to
teach passing, no matter the experience level or
talent of the players. Of course, how much time we
spend on the following is dictated by the passing
prowess of the players. However, I have never
conducted a camp where the passing fundamentals of
even the most experienced players could not be
improved with a little more focus on technique.
Typically, the better the players pass when we
begin, the faster we run the drills, as most
players passing accuracy decreases as their speed
to the ball increases.

This passing progression has improved the passing
accuracy of every team I have ever worked with, so
here we go:


THE STANCE: 

-Feet wider than shoulders with rt. foot slightly
in front of left (big toe on lt. foot lines up to
instep of rt. foot)

-Ankles flexed or bent forward so that weight is
on front of feet and heels feel like they are
barely touching the floor. (This will cause their
knees to bend naturally-but telling them to "bend
their knees" will not guarantee their weight is
on the front part of their feet.)

-Hands waist high with elbows bent in front of
hips, palms facing each other.

-Hips up, shoulders forward, so that the back is
flat and parallel to the floor.


Tip: You do not not want them to bring their heals
off the floor in their stance. USA Volleyball did
a study awhile back and concluded that if the
heals are off the floor in the ready position, the
first thing that happens when the player begins to
move is that the heals go down to the floor
anyway, thus slightly slowing down the start of
the movement to the ball.

Tip: Each time they get into the ready position,
have them lean forward and "swipe" the floor
with their right hand with a sideways motion,
touching it with their finger tips-this tells them
they are low enough and helps to ensure their
weight is forward on the front of their feet. Do
not let them "squat and poke" the floor, make
sure they lean forward and swipe instead.
 

THE RHYTHM STEP/PASSING PLATFORM: 

-As the all comes in to them, they take a small
"left-right" step to the ball. It's almost a shuffle,
as the left foot should never come totally in front
of the right foot.

-As they are doing this, the arms/hands are
extended straight out from the body.

-Hand position: Lay the right hand across the
inside of the left hand so that the first knuckles
of the right hand are just outside of the pinkie
of the left hand, then bring the base of the
thumbs together and rotate the wrists so that the
thumbnails are pointing toward the floor.


Tip: This hand position guarantees that the fleshy
part of the forearm will be exposed to the ball.
This leads to more control of the ball upon
contact than if the ball were to contact the bony
part of the forearms-which is what is most exposed
to the ball if the old "make a fist and wrap your
other hand around it" technique is used. 


THE PASS: 

-Keep the ball between their hips

-Point their passing platform at their target

-Watch the "bottom-half" of the ball into the
fleshy part of the forearms.

-If the ball were to somehow pass right through
their arms it would hit them right in the
mid-to-upper thighs.

-Hold the platform to the target until the ball
reaches the target (or gets far enough away from
them that it misses the target) :)


Tip: After they pass, have them stay low and again
lean forward and swipe the floor with their right
hand. This keeps them from bringing their
shoulders up, and thus producing too much arm
motion on their follow through, which produces too
much force on the ball.
 

PRACTICE: 

-Start them with the "Stanford Passing Drill"

-Pair them up with a ball for each pair.

-One girl from each pair is 15 ft. off the net,
the other is at the net as the tosser/target.

-Give them a goal of so many good passes in a time
period, and make sure to define for them what
counts as a good pass.


Tip: As their passing level progresses, move the
passers to the ten foot line. (The closer they are
to the target, the harder the drill becomes.)

 
Next go to "Short/Long Passing Drill": 

-Same alignment as "Stanford" to start

-First ball is tossed so that the passer has to shuffle
three steps minimum to make the pass

-Passer then holds that position until the tosser
tosses the next ball at least three steps minimum
to make the pass

-Passer holds that position until next toss is
made in front of them like the first toss of the
drill

-Go for 30 secs with a "total good pass goal"
and make sure everyone goes twice. 

Next use the "Passing Footwork Progression Drill" in the
Drill Archive in the Members Area 

Next use the "Triangle Passing Drill": 

-Groups of 3 girls/two balls-aligned in a triangle
formation with the two tossers about 10 ft. apart and
the passer about ten ft. away and in the middle of
them.

-One tosser tosses ball directly out in front of
herself and passer must shuffle over and make pass
back to her.

-As soon as the pass is made, the passer starts
shuffling to get in front of ball tosses by the
other tosser, who tosses it as soon as the first
pass is made.

-Go for 30 secs. and the score is the total of the
good passes to both tossers added together. 


More Tips: 

-During this entire progression, periodically have
them take off one knee pad and place it between their
shoulder blades. This keeps them from bringing their
shoulders up, because if they do, the knee pad falls off.

-With each of these drills, be sure to make sure
they remember their scores and then set a goal to
beat that score the next time the drill is run.

-Any time the ball is more than three shuffle
steps away, they need to break down and run to get
behind the ball and then quickly get back into
their stance to pass the ball. Make sure they
focus on "beating the ball" to the spot, not
"meeting the ball at the spot".

-As you move into drills that are more of a
combination of skills, make sure to demand they
continue to focus on their passing fundamentals.
Usually the more involved the drill is, the more
they let their basic passing fundamentals drop off.


Good Luck!


-Dave Cross
National Director
Yes I Can Volleyball