Net games: 1 v 1 to 2 v 2
Ready when: Underhand pass and set ladders (b2) and Serve and move (b3) started.
What you are learning
Real volleyball rallies on a small court: aiming at free space, using up to three touches a side (never twice in a row by one player), calling "mine", and moving round one place when you win back the serve.
Words on this card Forearm pass, Set, Rally, Three touches, Rotate, Free space, Line
- Forearm pass
- Passing the ball off the forearms held together as a flat surface.
- Set
- Pushing the ball up with the fingers, the thumbs and first fingers making a triangle above the forehead.
- Rally
- The play from the serve until the point is won.
- Three touches
- The most a team may play the ball before sending it over.
- Rotate
- Moving round one position when your team wins back the serve.
- Free space
- An open part of the other court where nobody is standing.
- Line
- Attacking straight down the side, diagonally, or at a steep angle.
Set up
A net at about 2 m or at the reach of the shortest player; a light ball.
Weather: dry ground
Show it first for the one teaching
- Throw the ball over the net into free space: the middle, an edge, a corner.
- In pairs: one catches, tosses it up to the partner, and the partner digs it over.
- Win back the serve, then move one place clockwise.
Your part while they practise
Referee; keep the game friendly.
Step by step
- 1 v 1 throw-and-catch over the net, aiming at free space.
- Then catch, toss, dig in pairs.
- Up to three touches a side, never twice in a row by one player.
- Rotate clockwise when you win back the serve.
How much: 3 games 15 min a session 3 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: 2 v 2
A small-court game to 11 points with the three-touch rule.
Who plays: 2 pairs; you referee.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Serve underhand from behind the line
- Play up to three touches a side; catch-and-toss allowed for young players
- Every rally scores a point
- First to 11; swap sides after a game
- Fair play
- A grown-up must set every ball to the partner.
- Points
- 1 point for each rally won.
- Fouls
- The point goes to the other pair
- The same player touching twice in a row
- More than three touches
- Touching the net
- Winning
- The first pair to 11 points.
- 4 points for 1 star
- 8 points for 2 stars
- 11 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Catch and throw first.
No catches.
What you will see, and what to say
- nobody calls
Shout 'mine'
Call first. - the ball drops between two players
One player takes it, say so
Call it. - the ball goes straight to a player
Aim at the free space
Find the gap.
Self-check
A rally of 5 touches by both sides; then in 2 v 2 the ball crosses the net 4 times in a row after the serve.
Stop and get a coach when
Collisions.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains rallies, communication, three touches.
Basic is done when the child meets the self-checks on b1 to b4.
awiseathlete.com/sports/volleyball/volleyball-b4