Volleyball Tryout Drills

Volleyball was created by William G. Morgan in 1895, although the sport has changed drastically since. Regardless of those changes, volleyball tryouts should go back to the basics. Players excel in different roles, so incorporate drills that showcase each role, and vary the difficulty level throughout the drills.

Passing

To evaluate basic passing skills, have the players line up. Toss the ball and have players practice bumping the ball back to you. To increase the difficulty, have three people ready to toss balls. Toss the first ball long, the second one short and the third high. Have players move horizontally across the court to receive.

Serving

Divide the players so half are on each side of the court. Have players practice serving, and keep track of how many balls out of 10 are served in bounds. To determine players' abilities to place the serve, place hula hoops on one side of the court. Place two in the back court and three on the front row. Have players take turns serving to the different hula hoop positions.

Spiking

Have players rotate through the three hitting positions: strong, weak, and middle. Set the ball to a player on the strong side, then have them hit and then move to middle. Continue until all players have hit in all three positions.

Setting

Have players face each other in two lines. Have players set to each other and then move to the back of the line. Make sure the players hand-set only, keeping it going as long as possible.

Pepper

This drill is typically a warmup for teams before matches. It incorporates a bump, set, and spike, focusing on ball control. Pair off players, and have the first player toss the ball to the second player. Player two then bumps the ball back. Then, player one sets it and player two spikes it. The drill is continuous.