This playful drill aims to improve players’ defensive consistency when facing aggressive volleys.
The objective is for the defender to withstand five aggressive volleys during the rally by returning them low, without making an error or offering an easy ball.
Setup
One player positions themselves in defense on one side of the court, on their preferred side.
The other player positions themselves parallel at the net.
The coach stands next to the attacking player on the open side of the court.
Drill execution
The drill starts with a feed from the coach to the defender, using a moderately aggressive volley to initiate the rally.
From that point on, the defender’s goal is to successfully return five low defensive shots to the attacker.
Lobbing is not allowed for the defender.
- If the defender successfully returns five defensive shots during the rally, they win the point immediately.
- If the defender makes a mistake, the attacker wins the point.
- If the attacker makes an error — or if the defender wins the rally with a passing shot — the count resumes where it stopped.
In this drill, the defender is the one working, while the attacker is allowed to play more aggressively than usual, since their mistakes are not penalized.
Training objectives
- For the attacker: play difficult, well-placed balls to make the defender move across half of the court, using heavy slice to minimize the rebound and increase difficulty.
- For the defender: develop defensive consistency, solid low-defense technique, and patience in order to successfully return five balls.
The coach can increase or reduce the difficulty by feeding a more or less aggressive first ball.
The defender has five attempts to score as many points as possible under these conditions.
The roles are then switched.
Here’s the video demonstration of the drill:
Video credits: 72H ENTRENANDO COMO TAPIA (DÍA 3) – Wings to Pro Ep. 17 – el4Set – YouTube