A fast-paced volleyball practice keeps players engaged, accelerates skill development, and better prepares athletes for the speed of competition. Creating an up-tempo environment requires intentional planning, clear communication, and efficient drill design.

Here are 10 practical tips for increasing the pace of your volleyball practice:

1. Plan, but be flexible.

Organization matters, and a written practice plan is essential. It allows you to prioritize development goals and move efficiently from one activity to the next. A clear plan also signals to players, parents, and administrators that you take your role seriously.

At the same time, coaching rarely goes exactly as planned. Player illnesses, injuries, and equipment issues happen. Adaptability is a critical coaching skill. Expect the unexpected, adjust with confidence, and that composure will carry over to your team.

2. Play to begin practice.

Players rarely get excited about a slow, repetitive dynamic warm-up, yet many practices still start that way. We have found greater success by streamlining the warm-up and moving it to the second item on the practice plan.

Each practice now begins with five to seven minutes of play. It is an engaging way to start, and it has increased on-time arrival. Our go-to activities include 4v4 Two-Contact Queen of the Court and 6v6 Offspeed Attack.

3. Talk 50% less.

Players agree that nothing slows a practice more than a coach who talks too much. If this is a tendency, establish clear guardrails to stay focused and efficient.

Limit team addresses to three points, no more than 30 seconds each. If you have an assistant coach, ask them to hard stop you at 90 seconds. If not, time yourself. Do not stop the entire group to give individual feedback. Allow play to continue while you coach one athlete. Use feedback on the fly by coaching during action instead of stopping it.

Avoid lectures. Establish clear, relevant consequences on day one and apply them consistently. Listening to a lecture should never be the consequence for poor effort.

4. Shorten the duration of activities.

Research in brain science shows athletes learn more effectively through two short five-minute blocks than one extended ten-minute segment. I have applied this concept by using brief one- to two-minute skill blocks around water breaks.

Before or after water, the team may work on floor moves, clipper serves, or foot digs for 90 seconds. I also limit all blocked drills to five minutes. Even if improvement is not immediately visible, I stop the drill. If needed, I revisit the concept later instead of trying to force progress in the moment.

5. Become a challenge point wizard; 60-80% is best.

Master coaches do this instinctively, but designing activities that are appropriately challenging is a learned skill. Drills cannot be too easy, which leads to boredom, or too difficult, which creates frustration. This balance becomes even more challenging when coaching teams with a wide range of abilities.

Continuously adjusting the challenge point to keep athletes engaged and focused is a critical element of maintaining an up-tempo practice.

6. Avoid long lines.

Monitor the time between each athlete’s ball contacts. For repetitive, blocked training, limit lines to a maximum of three players. If a line grows beyond that, redesign the activity.

For example, instead of a single hitting line with 12 players, divide the team into four groups of three: attackers, setters/blockers, defenders, and a ball-control group working on the same side as the attackers. After two minutes, rotate the groups.

7. Use serving go-to’s.

No coach believes they practice serving enough. Having a few fast-paced, one- to two-minute serving activities in your toolbox pays dividends. Our favorites include 3-by-3 Serving, where athletes serve three sets of three in a row, and Elastic Challenge, which asks how many serves can clear under the elastic in two minutes.

8. Use small-sided game go-to’s.

We prefer using the same games to teach multiple skills, which eliminates time spent re-explaining activities. Our three favorites are Kamikaze (4v4 with two at the net and two in the back row, using a back-row setter), 2v2 Longcourt (with an antenna placed at mid-net to divide the court), and Deep Court (3v3, with or without setters).

9. Keep balls in play.

Nothing slows a practice more than a string of missed serves. Our solution is to immediately initiate play by tossing in a ball after a missed serve. For scoring, the serving team cannot earn a point, but it can earn a wash to prevent the opponent from scoring.

We also use three-ball games that include a serve and a designated ball to each side. If a team wins two of the three balls, it earns one point. Winning all three earns two points.

10. Play short games.

Avoid long scrimmages. Playing full 25-point games slows practice and becomes unengaging if one team takes an early lead. Instead, play sets to 15, starting each at 10–10, and use a best-of-seven format. This keeps scores close and competition high.

Experimenting with these strategies will improve practice tempo, making sessions more engaging for both players and coaches.

View more education to help you run a volleyball practice.

The Volleyball Coach’s Book of Lists, is a compilation of inspiration and instruction from over 130 coaches. Tod Mattox gathered wisdom from some of the top volleyball coaches in the game, including Karch Kiraly, Kirsten Bernthal-Booth, Dan Fisher, JJ Van Niel and many more. Club directors, coaches, and players will find value with chapters on Culture, Practice, Strategy, Resources, and Parents.

From Dan Fisher’s Pitt Culture Questions

1. How grateful is she to be here? Gratitude is shown through action.

2. How much joy does this give her?

3. How much enthusiasm is she bringing?

4. Is she a learner? Is she curious?

5. How does she react to stress/when things don’t go her way?

Check out the Amazon link and grab a copy today.

About the Author

Tod Mattox started his coaching journey in 1981, and he’s been working with high school and club teams for the past 44 years. Tod is a frequent contributor to The Art of Coaching Volleyball, and he’s presented several workshops at AVCA Conventions. Currently, he and his coaching pal, Davis Ransom, create a weekly podcast, The VolleyPod, where they share ideas on coaching kids’ volleyball. He continues to explore ways to improve his coaching at The Bishop’s School, COAST Volleyball Club (a JVA member club), and Catalyst Volleyball Club.