The Volleyball Drill Book Paperback – June 15, 2012

All coaches loves drill book. Actually, they need drill books. They need it to bolster their confidence, they need it to brainstorm drill ideas, they need it as a crutch. And there are a bunch of drill books out there to suck up people's cash and time, and attention. But, there isn't another drill book that combines the talents of two of the foremost Division III coaching legends like this book.Actually, to designate Teri Clemens and Jenny McDowell as just Division III coaches is really denigrating the impact that they have had on the game of volleyball. While their primary coaching milieu is in Division III, they are both highly respect coaches in the American college game. The critical distinction of Division III though is that these two coaches have worked with true student athletes who are incredibly intelligent and are extremely dedicated. They have also had amazing successes with players who are monsters in the classrooms, and they did it without scholarships.The book is structured similar to most drill books. Broken down by various volleyball topics, including individual skills and team systems. There are a few very unique touches.There is a table of all the drills described in the front with the drills split up by chapters and identified by one, two or three volleyball icons, These are to identify the drills by the player's level of play. A very nice touch.While Serving, ball handling, and setting are named as such in their respective chapters, the other skills in volleyball: hitting, blocking, and defense and scattered around the rest of the chapters which emphasizes offensive and defensive drills. There is a chapter on transition skills. This may not seem to be a large leap but it is. The classification of the drills emphasizes the mindset that those specific skills needs to be thought of as a part of a continuous set of action, the rally. This emphasis is important because it take the coach and player's mind off of the individual skills and put it in the realm of the continuous action that goes on in the rally that is purely volleyball.There are two chapters, Competitive Multiplayer Drills and Team Scoring Drills that sneakily places the emphasis on competition as well as developing the offensive systems and team play that is so critical in teaching volleyball. The point is made by the book's structure, to stop thinking in terms of the skills as a decoupled part of the game and more of the skills as an integrated part of a series of continuous action. While isolating the skills has its place in the training pedagogy, the skill as a part of the holistic part of the game action is the key to understanding and training the game.The final chapter: Mental Toughness and Team Building drills is worth the price of the book. This is where the two veteran coaches gives us a peek behind the curtains at their training secret, their ability to train and teach kids how to compete and play tough, hard nosed volleyball. Remember that these two coaches coached some great competitors that are sometimes less than phenomenal natural athletes. So it is that they have had to train their players to be the best at what they do and to be disciplined enough to execute the game plan. This chapter defines this book in my mind. In fact a lot of the chapter contains lessons taught in Teri Clemen's previous book: Get With It, Girls! Life Is Competition, a must have in any coach's library.The drills are all well illustrated and clearly described so that the instructions can be followed. The explanations at the beginning of the chapters are informative and also gives the reader some excellent insight into the mental processes of these two legends.In the end, the success of the volleyball teams and their coach relies on the intelligence and adaptability of the individuals who are coaching. This book gives a significant leg up for the coach who reads it, digests it, and makes the book a basis for their own thoughts and practices.

I am a brand new head coach this year, and boy oh boy, have I been overwhelmed. I've coached a week-long camp for ten years, but this is my first time coaching an entire season. I have extensive playing experience, including many years of Junior Olympic volleyball, but I never ONCE expected to coach someday. For that reason, I didn't pay much attention to drills, and they have all blended together over the years. If I could do it all over again, I'd write down every single thing I did haha!Anyway, one of my concerns as a Varsity coach has been coming up with a variety of drills. As I write this review, I have 1 week of practice down and I feel like I could maybe plan 1 or 2 more 3-hour practices before running out of ideas!! That thought terrified me and led me to look online for drills (not enough that's free that's worthwhile) and books. I chose this one because it is more recent (some of the older ones have good drills but don't accommodate rally scoring, the libero position, etc) and it had one review that said it was good.Let me just say...this book is AWESOME. The introduction was helpful to me- brief but talks about running a practice and getting ready for a season (such as the types of drills you should do pre-season, mid-season, and at the end of the season when you're getting ready for regionals, conference, etc). It is then divided into sections- serving drills, ball-handling drills, setting drills, offensive drills, defensive drills, transition drills, competitive multiplayer drills, team scoring drills, and mental toughness/team building. I especially like that last chapter with team building....it's one of those things that is SO important for a team, but many books fail to provide ideas for games and things you can do to build up that camaraderie.The drills in this book are EXCELLENT. I found myself flipping through and getting excited to try one...and then another...and then another...and another! Now, instead of dreading having to plan drills for a whole season, I actually am excited. There are almost too many drills- I wonder if I will have enough time to try all the ones I want to try! They are very easy to understand with clear diagrams, and I especially love that each drill is designated for beginners, intermediates, or advanced players (and each drill has suggestions to make the drills even more challenging).This book is seriously going to save my life. I know I probably sound like some silly infomercial, but I'm totally serious. I went from being stressed, overwhelmed, and nervous about coaching an entire season to actually having confidence and excitement for what's to come, just because I have a great book to help me out. HIGHLY recommended!!!!

Drills useful for individual skills

I'm not a fan of drills where to many kids are waiting in line. Some good stuff. Maybe better for someone with less experience.

This book has helped my season a lot. It is filled with a lot of drills and ideas to build from. Great for coaches just starting out, or experienced coaches.

Target audience is the advanced player. I was looking for drill ideas for my competitive 11 year olds. Drills are too complicated.

In full disclosure, I have not read every page yet but I am off to a good start. I am a starting my first year coaching middle school volleyball and this book is a valuable resource. My favorite part is how the front of the book shows a breakdown of each drill categorized by skill-type and then by difficultly. It was well worth the money and I recommend it.

As a coach with only a few years of experience, this was a very nice addition to my list of familiar drills. I especially like how it is organized by skill and difficulty. My high school JV team had completed several of these drills so far.