Hitter vs. Blocker Volleyball Drills

  • August 10, 2017

It’s fair to say that the sport of volleyball is all about attacking and blocking. During the game a
volleyball team has to either carry out attack hits or resist the opposing team’s attacks. That’s the
reason why every volleyball team aims to have strong attackers as well as strong blockers. There
is no doubt that a volleyball team’s training program needs to be focused on practicing hitting
drills as well as blocking drills.

It’s important to note that volleyball attackers (hitters) and defensive players (blockers) can
successfully cooperate together and help each other during the training process. In other words,
hitters as well as blockers can do some drills together. So called hitter vs. blocker drills give
hitters the perfect opportunity to develop their hitting skills successfully. On the other hand,
drills of this type allow blockers to practise their blocking skills.

Obviously, the job of hitters is to carry out a successful attack hit. And of course, blockers need
to do everything they can to resist an attack hit. Today, we would like to share some of the best
hitter vs. blocker volleyball drills that volleyball players can do consistently to take their skills to
the next level. Above all, we’ll outline the key benefits of doing offence vs. blocker volleyball
drills. Another important thing that you need to be aware of is that volleyball players have to do
hitter vs. blocker volleyball drills on a regular basis to see a progress.

Offense vs. Blockers Drill

This type of hitter vs. blocker volleyball drill is all about helping attackers hit the ball over the
net and against the block successfully. Performing this drill requires 3 blockers, 3 hitters as well
as 1 setter and 2 passers. First of all, blockers need to position themselves on one side of the
court. Hitters, passers and setter should go to the opposite side of the court.

A coach has to toss the ball to one of passers and the drill begins. The job of a passer is to pass
the ball to a setter. A setter is responsible for setting the ball. After setting a hitter has to carry
out an attack hit. Now, it’s time for blockers to block the attack.

Offense vs. blockers drill is some kind of competition between hitters and blockers. In fact, the
drill goes on until either hitting side or blocking side gets the certain number of points. Let’s
imagine the situation that hitters can carry out a successful attack hit. In this case, the hitting side
receives 1 point. However, if the attack has been successfully resisted by blockers then the
blocking side will receive 1 point.

Read Hitter’s Eyes Blocking Drill

Obviously, doing this type of volleyball drill helps attackers master their hitting skills. However,
the most important thing about this drill is that it helps blockers read the opponent’s hitters and
react to attacks successfully. Without a doubt, the ability to read the opponent’s hitter contributes
greatly to a blocker’s success. Practicing this drill requires 3 blockers, 2 hitters as well as 1
setter. Initially, 3 blockers need to go to one side of the court and position themselves near the
net. Hitters as well as a setter need to go to the opposite side of the court.

A coach has to toss the ball to a setter and the drill begins. Now, it’s incredibly important for a
blocker to observe the opponent’s setter carefully. At this moment, blockers have to pay a close
attention to a setter’s hands.

After a setter sets the ball, blockers need to switch their focus to a hitter who is going to carry
out an attack hit. So, blockers should carefully observe an attacker until he/she hits the ball. It’s
also important to know that blockers can raise their hands to watch the ball only when the ball
goes the halfway point to the hitter.

When the ball is about to reach a hitter, blockers need to look at the hitter’s eyes and try to
predict the direction of the ball. Doing this type of hitter vs. blocker volleyball drill on a regular
basis helps blockers learn how to read the hitter’s eyes successfully over time.

Blocker against Hitter Drill

Actually, the blocker against hitter volleyball drill is pretty easy to do. When doing this drill
volleyball players need to focus on attacking, blocking and transition. This drill gives volleyball
players a good chance to practise both hitting and blocking skills.

Initially, two volleyball players (blockers) and a coach assistant need to go to one part of the
court. Two other volleyball players (attackers) and coach have to position themselves on another part of the court. The drill begins when a coach tosses the ball to one of volleyball players, who has to set the ball
to a hitter. After setting the ball, an attacker carries out an attack hit. The task of blockers is to
block an attack. After that, blockers and attackers are changing their roles. In other words,
blockers become attackers and attackers become blockers.

Immediately after block, a coach assistant has to toss the ball to one of volleyball players (who
previously were blockers) and now they need to carry out an attack hit. This drill is all about the
“blocker against hitter” competition.

The drill goes on until one of teams carries out 3 successful attacks first and becomes a winner.
A successful attack means the situation when the ball is not blocked, doesn’t hit the tip and
successfully lands on the opposite side of the court.

Hitter vs. Blocker Drill from Mark Barnard

Hitter vs. blocker drill has been provided by the former Australian National women’s volleyball
coach, Mark Barnard. The coach chooses to make this drill a part of his/her volleyball program.
This type of volleyball drill is performed by two teams (hitting side as well as blocking side).
Each of teams consists of 6 volleyball players. The task of hitting side is to organize an attack
and let the left side hitter to carry out an attack hit. The job of blocking side is to block the ball
successfully.

It’s important to point out that this volleyball drill consists of three stages. The first time, a left
side hitter will have to hit the ball against the single block. After that, the blocking side needs to
organize a double block and make the task more complicated. So, the second time a left side
hitter will have to hit the ball against a double block. The third time, a blocking side has to
organize a triple block. By doing this, a blocking side will obviously make it even more difficult
for the opponent’s left side hitter to carry out a successful attack hit. That means that the third
time, a left side hitter will have to hit the ball against a triple block.

Obviously, a left side hitter has to try everything he/she can to find holes in the opposing team’s
defense and land the ball on the opposite side of the court successfully during the drill.

Why It’s So Important to Perform Hitter vs. Blocker Volleyball Drills

Coaches choose to make this type of volleyball drills a key part of their training programs for a
number of reasons. Below, we’ll explain to you how exactly you can benefit from doing hitter
vs. blocker drills.

– The reality is, hitter vs. blocker volleyball drills make it easy for coaches to train both hitters
and blockers.

– Another important benefit is that performing some of hitter vs. blocker drills helps volleyball
players with versatile experience.

– One of great benefits of practicing hitter vs. blocker drills is that they allow volleyball players
to work together on improving their hitting skills as well as blocking skills.

– It’s worth noting that hitter vs. blocker volleyball drills are usually about organizing some kind
of competition between hitters and blockers. And of course, competitive environment motivates
volleyball players to work harder and do their best to achieve their goals.

Thank you so much for reading our article and getting familiar with some of the best hitter
vs. blocker volleyball drills. As you can see, we have just shared four excellent hitter vs.
block volleyball drills. In addition, we have outlined the importance of practicing hitter vs.
blocker volleyball drills. You need to know that those volleyball players, who perform these
drills consistently, improve their hitting and blocking skills significantly over time. Practise
hitter vs blocker volleyball drills on a regular basis and success will not keep you waiting
for a long time! As always, we would like to wish you the best of luck!