No one can deny that volleyball is a team sport and that you should practice with other partners, most of the time!
However, in many cases you might not have any one around interested in practicing with you. You might not even have a proper wall (fake partner) to help you with some drills …
That’s why in this article, I’ve chosen to help you find ways to practice volley by yourself without even the need of a wall!
What you should have to train volleyball alone with no wall?
To be able to do so you will need a:
- Ball (Check my favorite model)
- Open space (preferably a court)
- And a Net (preferably an adjustable one like this model)
That way you can practice the 3 basic types of serves or just your precision when it comes to hitting the ball over the net.
Second on the list is a volleyball ball rebounder or a draw string , which is basically an elastic cord tied to a belt that is wide enough so you can have stability when bouncing the ball.
The ball rebounder can help you practice your serving, your setting and spiking. It can be used anywhere, from your backyard across the practices all the way to the park.
There is also the natural variant, where you only use the ball and your hands. That variant is best when practicing your passing, since you can see in which direction the ball will go and you can feel it better.
Finally, keep in mind that there are drills that help your stamina, agility and strength. Which you can practice alone.
Drills to practice volleyball alone without a wall?
1/ Regular Passing
Passing can be practiced individually in many ways. Some coaches teach the method using your legs, some teach it with just your arms and some teach it with both … We will explore both.
Step 1) First get your arms out, lock your elbows, put your arms and wrists together and lock them tight together. The most important part is that your thumbs and platform are even, for better ball control and lower risk of injury.
If your platform is not even, there is a bigger chance the ball goes in random directions, even if you hit it properly.
Step 2) Foot positioning is the most important part. You do not want to be too narrow with your feet nor too wide with them. Make sure that your feet are in a position well aligned with your shoulders. That way you can move in any direction you want.
Step 3) Passing with your legs is a common volleyball practice, and it takes a lot of energy away from your lower limbs, your arms should be fixed, straight in front of you.
The goal is to bend your knees while you wait for the ball to land on your platform, just as the ball is making its last few centimeters to your platform, you quickly straighten your knees and hit the ball, resulting in a pass. Repeat that every time you hit the ball.
Step 4) Passing with your arms is the opposite of passing with your legs. Your arms are not fixed and your legs are not repeating the same movement as before.
When passing with your arms there is a lot of upper body movement and it requires you to be on the move always. Do not forget the stance I’ve mentioned earlier.
When doing passes like this it is crucial to move in circles in order to see the ball from different angles and to practice movement when passing. This is important for stability.
2/ Vertical passing
Second on our list is vertical passing that can help you focus on the ball and your hand control.
Lay down on your back, put your hands in front of your head, make a triangle with your thumb, index your fingers and be ready to send the ball up, towards the ceiling.
When you send the ball up, make sure you do it slowly first, so you can feel the ball, repeat at least fifty times before leveling up.
3/ Set Pass Set
Next is a passing a variant called the set-pass-set. So basically you alternate between setting and passing which is sometimes difficult to perform for new players.
Set-pass-set is however good for your ball control, agility and footwork!
4/ Vertical jumping
Our forth practice on the list is vertical jumping. This helps you jump more effectively with your hands over the net.
Firstly you will need to build up explosive power by training your leg muscles and strengthening them. Then you will need to focus on your lower body so you can gain enough explosiveness to jump even higher.
One bonus exercise that is common in nearly all sports is jumping rope. As easy as it sounds it helps build your cardio and strengthen your muscles.
5/ Stretching
Warming up before practices even very important, but stretching after practices is as important. Not only in volleyball, but also in any other physical sport!
When muscles are tired from a full training session, you help them relax and start recovering while stretching.
By the way, if you are a beginner, then keep in mind that training alone is a great way to discover whether volleyball is the right sport for your or not!
Other extra things to train by yourself.
There are other one man drills that can besides enhancing your skills help you improve in a number of ways. I am talking here about speed, agility and stamina.
Indeed, Footwork can help you improve balance, stability and ankle strength. But if done fast it can improve agility to some extent.
- Begin doing the footwork by standing in an athletic stance, knees bent and awaiting the ball.
- Next step is to put your weight on the right foot and jump on the left side, eventually landing in the athletic stance once again.
- After a few seconds put your weight on the left foot and jump to the right side, again landing in the athletic stance. Try increasing the distance of the jump each time.
Next on the list is doing vertical solo setting. This helps you work on the control of your set. Try setting the ball while lying on your back.
Bend your knees, your hands should be 15-20cm above your head. The ball should be in proper setting position, with your hands forming a triangle with your hands when holding the ball.
Then start setting the ball a few times, after that gradually start increasing the number of repeats.
The third and final drill that we are going to mention is the bleacher jump. It is a vertical jump that helps players build muscles and practice their agility.
Players stand on the floor near the edge of bleacher stairs, than they jump from the floor to the edge of the stair, focusing on clean and controlled jumps.
The goal is to jump as quickly as possible and to jump down again as quickly as possible, in order to strengthen the muscles and to increase agility.
Keep in mind that you can practice many volleyball drills with a wall!
Some moves you can’t train alone (limitations!)
There are many ways in which you are limited when it comes to practicing alone …
Those drills usually include the coach or another teammate and are tied to the net or just simply the court.
For example, if you want to train receiving the ball, or digging or even spiking. Those are a little bit hard to train yourself.
Of course there are always ways to work around that, but I highly recommend you to have a coach check that before you commit fully to a particular solo drill to not learn thing in a wrong way.
Finally, if you hope to become one day a volleyball pro! Then you should mostly practice with a team …
Final Thoughts …
Keep in mind that the drills I’ve mentioned in this article are the not the only ones that you can practice alone with no wall around. There are obviously others …
The goal here was just to give you ideas. This will help to get you started and then you can figure out other ways to practice alone depending on your needs.
I won’t deny here that one of my goals is to give you little to no excuses to not practice volleyball. In fact, most people who give up on the sport complaint that they usually can’t find somebody to train with. So, this should be helpful in that case!