A volleyball training plan for your team

The forearm pass as the first contact against a serve, inside a live 2v2 rally, while the contacts that follow are still supported by a catch until reception quality holds up on its own.

Setup

This drill is a declared variant of a separate 2v2 youth competition format, and it runs at that format's own numbers, which differ from the court and net a group of 12 to 14 usually plays on. The net is a fixed 2.10 m for this format, a single number rather than a band: set it there rather than at the height your group's own competition uses, which is a declared departure. Court: 6 m by 4.5 m per team inside a 6 m by 9 m playing area, with the net across the 6 m width. The serve is taken 4.5 m back from the net, which on this court is the team's own back line, so no extra line has to be laid and the 4 corner cones fix it. That serve position is a second declared departure, and what it departs from is a rule of play. In the Dutch format the younger groups play, a serve is never taken from behind the back line. It is taken from inside the back half of own court, and below about 9 there is no serve at all. Say so, so that a group is not taught a back-line serve as though it were normal for a small-court game. Two players from each team are on court at any moment, and a team is two, three or four players. One team wears bibs. Each court has 2 balls, one live and one spare at the sideline. One court is the base layout and holds two teams of 2 or 3, which is 4 to 6 players. A group of 7 stays on that one court, as a team of 3 against a team of 4. A group of 8 to 12 sets up a second, identical court alongside the first and splits into four teams of 2 or 3. That second court needs its own net, its own 4 corner cones, its own 2 balls and its own bibbed team. Whatever the team size, the swap rule below is the same one and it fires after every second rally. It is the drill's only rotation trigger.

How it runs

Rallies play to 3 contacts a side and run continuously. The clock ends the block, so there is no points target and no game count. The format has two contact settings. Pick one before the first serve, from how ready the group is, and run the whole block at it. Supported setting: the first contact is a real forearm pass with no catching, the second contact is caught and then set, and the third is a direct overhead set. Open setting: the first contact is a forearm pass, and the second and third are both direct overhead sets, with no catching anywhere in the rally. The serve is underhand from the team's own back line, 4.5 m back from the net. The two children on court take it in turn, so neither of them serves twice running. Players stand side by side, each covering their own half. Crossing the centre line is a fault. Net contact is allowed unless it interferes with play. One swap rule covers every team size. After every second rally the player who has been on longest steps off, and the next name in the order steps on. Say the order aloud before the first serve and keep it. A team of two never swaps, and both play throughout. A team of three has one player off at a time, so each of the three is on for two rallies in three. A team of four has two off at a time and brings them on one at a time, so each player is on for half the rallies and the order comes round every eight. Whoever is off court fetches a ball that has left the court and hands the spare to the server. With two teams of 2 nobody is off court, so the receiving pair takes the spare and walks the loose ball back before the next rally ends. Rallies stay capped at 3 contacts a side at either setting. The geometry does not move either: 6 m by 4.5 m per team inside a 6 m by 9 m area, a 2.10 m net, and the serve from the back line 4.5 m back. Easier: run, or go back to, the supported setting, where the second and third contacts stay caught and released while receive quality develops. Harder: move to the open setting once the forearm pass is consistently controlled, which takes the catch out of every contact.

What to watch

• Platform formed by joined hands and straight arms, held low and away from the body, before the serve arrives.
• Ball contacted on the forearms above the wrists, not on the hands.
• Move the feet to get square to the target before the ball arrives, so nobody has to reach sideways for it.
• Knees bent, weight forward on contact, hips and shoulders turned towards the target.

What usually goes wrong

• Passing with the hands or the fingers instead of the forearm platform: reset the arms low and joined before the serve is struck.
• Standing tall and reaching rather than moving the feet under the ball: cue "feet first, then arms".
• Rushing to the open setting before the forearm pass is consistent: stay with the supported one, because the caught second and third contacts are the safety net while receive quality is still developing.

Kit

2 × net, 4 × ball, 8 × cone, 6 × bib