Volleyball drills at home for 11 year olds

At a glance

At 11

58 volleyball drills the app opens for an 11 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 30 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 45 minutes for an 11 year old.

How often

At most 4 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 11 hours for an 11 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: volleyball (40 of the 58 drills), net (11), cones (9), wall (5), balloon (3), net or rope (3), tape line (2), chalk (1). 3 drills need nothing but space. 20 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

58 at-home drills

Volleyball drills for 11 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 11 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

blocking

Blocking

• Crossover Block StepAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Pressing Over the NetAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Shuffle and BlockAges 11 and up · 10 min

digging

Digging

• Base to DefenseAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Dig a Down BallAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Shank ChaseAges 11 and up · 10 min

hitting

Hitting

• Approach Timing GameAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Hitting Off a SetAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Roll Shot PlacementAges 11 and up · 12 min

passing

Passing

• Angle the PlatformAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Free Ball Overhead PassAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Serve Receive in PairsAges 11 and up · 12 min

serving

Serving

• Build Your Serve RoutineAges 11 and up · 8 min
• Deep and Short ServesAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Float ServeAges 11 and up · 12 min

A 26-minute session

A home volleyball session for an 11 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 26 minutes in all. Do it up to 4 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Volleyball Warm-Up, Ages 11 to 13A 10-minute moving warm-up for volleyball players aged 11 to 13: running, moving stretches, plank, balance, landings and build-up runs, then volleyball moves, with a note on growth spurts.10 min
2. 2Underhand Serve FormHold it still, step and swing.10 min
3. 3Volleyball Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 11 to 13A 6-minute cool-down for volleyball players aged 11 to 13 after training: stretches for the legs, hips, shoulders and arms, each held 15 to 20 seconds, never to pain, with growth-spurt notes.6 min

At 11

What changes in volleyball training at 11

26 at-home drills join the list at 11.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 11 hours for an 11 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting volleyball into a week at 11

At 11 the limit is 11 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 4 sessions of 30 minutes is 2 hours, which leaves 9 for team practice and games. Even 4 days at the app's longest, 45 minutes, is 3 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers