A simple wall could definitely be your best friend when it comes to volleyball practices. Indeed, there are a ton of drills and training routines that you can implement to help sharpen your skills …
The good news is that if you implement those drills against the wall for just several minutes a day, you can dramatically skyrocket your volleyball abilities.
In this article, I address the most important volleyball drills you can practice against the wall and how you can execute them efficiently.
Perfect wall dimensions for volleyball training
The first thing to do is to find a large wall against which you can practice. The best place would be a large outdoor wall of a garage or a public wall…
If you are practicing alone, the ideal dimensions of a large wall should be around 5 feet wide and 7 feet in height…
However, if you want to practice with a partner or multiple people, then the ideal wall dimension should be 10 to 14 feet wide and 8-foot in height.
This will give you plenty of space to practice all your moves.
Helpful Tip: Wall surfaces are usually not that soft, this means that if you use a lower quality ball it might wear out pretty quickly. That’s why, it is highly recommended to use a higher quality ball that would resist the wall surface. For example, this quality volleyball model can perfectly resist those shocks even if you keep spiking it against the wall.
Volleyball Hitting Drills against a wall …
Hitting the Wall
When you hit the ball against the wall, imagine that you are hitting it over the net. So hit the ball against the wall like you would do on the court … And once the ball bounces from the wall, hit it once again.
Hit the ball as many times as you possibly can during the drill. And when you start feeling comfortable, you should shift to focus on keeping the ball up in the air for as long as possible.
Over time, you should make the drill more challenging …
When hitting, you should try your best to send the ball to specific areas on the wall … If it is allowed, draw 1 or 2 different little circles that would represent your targets when hitting the ball.
This will not only teach you how to hit the ball with power, it also will help you improve with the accuracy aspect.
Keep in mind that hitting the ball against the wall improves your reaction time which is a very important attribute for any volleyball player.
Turn your hand every time you hit the ball
This drill is a slight variation to simple hitting the ball against the wall. The difference here is that every time you hit the ball against the wall, you will to need to make a simple turn of your hand as if you are going to spike the ball, and complete the turn by the time the ball returns to hit it back again.
You can alternate between each hand for every hit, or you can practice doing five hits and turn with one hand and then switch to the other.
This drill should be practiced with at least 10 to 15 feet distance between you and the wall. Your elbow should be kept high, your thumb should be down, and make a snap movement.
Keep in mind that it is important to not drop your hand in this drill.
Serving Drills against a wall …
Drill to Improve Serving Skills
(If it is allowed) Mark a line with painter’s tape at 7′ if you are 12 years and under, and at 7’4 for 14 years and above.
Now, you need to make sure that you are serving above this line every time. Try to get it just above the tape line to practice your aggressive serves.
You should stand at least half a court’s worth of distance away from the wall while practicing your serve.
This should be around 30 feet. Again, to improve your accuracy, practice your serve by hitting the ball just above the appropriate height.
Toss, Drop, and Serve
Whether you serve overhead or you want to work on your underhand serve, this drill is ideal for both.
Practicing the stance and swing drill is a great practice for beginners especially. This is also great for practicing your serving toss.
Begin by extending your serving arm while holding the ball in your other arm that is stretched out.
Take your serving arm behind your back, and just toss the ball up. Once the ball bounces on the floor and comes back up, hit it with your serving arm against the wall and try to aim for a specific place on the wall.
This will strengthen your tossing arm as well as your serve hand.
Volleyball Setting Drills against a wall …
Setting Drill
Instead of being away from the wall, to practice setting, you need to get closer to the wall!
Just stand a step or two away from it. Staying close to the wall helps you focus on getting the ball up in the air and out a little.
This also reinforces and helps you practice the correct way of setting the ball. The main objective of setting is to keep the ball above your head at all times.
So when you are setting, it is important that you look up. And make sure that your setting hands do not go below your nose for the set.
Here are the steps to do a setting drill with a wall.
- Toss the ball slowly and set it against the wall. Keep your wrists extended, thumbs should be pointed towards each other, and the pointer fingers should also be pointed towards each other. Ensure more of your hand is on the ball. Keep your hands close, not out wide. Just keep the ball in your hands and then release it to the wall in rapid succession as if you are setting it.
- To begin with, do quick sets with the ball not going that high. This is just to warm up your setting hands and also get you into the flow of a rapid but repetitive, drill. Continue to do quick sets for 60 seconds at least.
- Now take a step back and continue to set the ball against the wall.
Aim for any specific point on the wall and see how many times you are able to hit it in a row accurately.
Practicing with distance
Another setting drill you can do against the wall is nearly identical to the first one but with more distance.
Toss the volleyball up in the air, about ten feet away from the wall. Position your feet properly, and then set the ball against the wall.
From this point, you can either set the ball again as it comes back from the wall or catch and re-toss it again.
If you are setting the ball high and you find the ball traveling in an arc trajectory, this means that you are performing the drill correctly.
How often should you practice that?
Most coaches say that you should be practicing these drills and other volleyball exercises for at least three hours daily. But from my humble experience, 15 to 20 minutes on a daily basis are more than enough …
The best rule of thumb would be to practice as long as you need to finish practicing what you want to work on.
Before starting the practice, make sure that you know what you need to work on. And this is usually going to be a couple of things for any given session.
For example, if you want to improve your serves, you should focus on doing the serving drills more than the others.
At the same time, though, it is important to remember that you should not get fatigued. Players are less able to learn as they become more fatigued.
Practice should not lead to mental or physical burnout. Fatigue also increases the risk of injury, especially if you don’t take sufficient rest in between.
Can you practice those drills at home?
Any volleyball drill that can be done against a wall can be practiced at home if you take the required safety precautions.
All you need is some space, a good wall, and of course, your parent’s permission (if you still live in your parents’ house lol)!
It is important to remember that, as with practicing anything, mistakes are going to happen. So make sure that you remove any fragile or dangerous objects from the vicinity of where you will be practicing.
Out of all the moves, setting, passing, hitting, and serving are some of the drills that you can easily practice at home.
Practicing the volleyball drills at home takes off a lot of pressure of having to go outside or to the gym everyday to get in your practice hours. It also helps you improve your volleyball skills.
Keep in mind that you can practice many volleyball drills without a wall!
Final Thoughts …
One last thing I want to add is that practicing your volleyball skills against the wall should belong to your training routine …
In other words, even if you are already training in a club on a regular basis, it is still important to allocate just about 20 min per day to practice against the wall.
This will give you an edge, build your confidence and help you be always a step ahead your training partners.
Finally, I invite you to learn those best practices to become a pro volleyball player! You will learn a lot …