Perhaps one of the most difficult sets of volleyball drills for a coach is plyometric drills to help improve a player’s skill and jump height. A strong jump is important to a player’s overall performance, which will directly impact the performance of the team as a whole. It’s much harder to land a killshot on a blocker who can jump higher than you. The opposite also is true. If your players can jump higher than their opponents, they will be able to hit the ball over the defenders’ heads. For that reason, it’s important to develop volleyball drills that help gain those valuable inches on every jump.
Every set of volleyball drills you implement will work the muscles of your players. Plyometric exercises should be no different. To have a stronger jump, it is important to know that the jump starts with the ankles. To that end, you want to make sure to include volleyball exercises that will help stretch and exercise the muscles and connective tissues of the ankle. A good starting exercise is the ankle jump exercise. To do this, the player will stand with their feet comfortably apart. It is good to make them move in the opposite direction to help build energy in the muscles. They should then immediately release that energy, jumping straight up using only their ankles. Ask them to land on their feet and immediately jump back up. This will help strengthen your ankles, which is the foundation of a good jump.
Another set of muscles that is important for a good jump is the calf muscle. Using volleyball drills that help strengthen your players’ calf muscles will be the next step in creating a higher jumping team. For this, you can use the jump forward. Have your players start by standing on one leg, with the other bent up at almost a 90-degree angle. Bend the elbow of the opposite arm. Perform a slight counter move, then jump up and forward. Keep the bent leg stationary until landing. Switch legs on landing and jump again. This set of volleyball exercises, while working most of your leg muscles at once, will also help balance, which can be almost as important for good jumping form.
To continue volleyball drills that work the calves and all the other leg muscles, have your players work double-leg vertical jumps. For this set of volleyball drills, you’ll have your players start in a squat. When you’re ready to start, have the player wave their arms behind them. He will then swing his arms forward and up above his head, exploding into a straight upward jump. At the highest point of the jump, his arms should be fully extended, reaching for the sky. This must be repeated several times.
When working on volleyball drills that work on stronger and higher jumps, it’s important to remember that all of your player’s muscles need to work together. Because of this, it is imperative that you include a set of low-intensity exercises in your drilling patterns. The goal is not for a player’s legs to become huge muscular limbs, but to give them strength and flexibility. These volleyball drills will become the solid foundation needed to continue with some of the higher intensity drills you’ll be working on.