Defense · Intermediate

Digging Hard-Driven Spikes

This drill gives athletes practice at digging hard driven spikes that are directed at and around the defenders body.

How to run it

1
The coach or an athlete drives hard balls at the defender who is positioned in the angle. Initially spikes should be aimed directly at the defender but once the athlete has begun digging these successfully, they can move on to having balls driven to positions 2 and 3. At positions 2 and 3 the defender will need to pass the ball outside their body, which increases difficulty. Balls should be hit at the defenders from all areas of the court. The objective of the defender is to get the ball to travel straight up in front of them approx 10-12 feet in the air. When digging the balls outside the body at positions 2 and 3 the defender must focus on turning the shoulders (and platform) so that the ball travels forward, and not off the arm and out the back of the court. The number of repetitions each defender receives will be determined by the number of athletes in the drill, and the fitness level of the athletes.
2
Coach emphasis: It is important that when digging a ball outside the body that the athletes does not bring the arms

This drill gives athletes practice at digging hard driven spikes that are directed at and around the defenders body.

Keep building

Teach defensive base position and reading the attacker's body for shot vs. swing.

Train the diagonal defensive shift — defender reads the attacker and moves to the gap before contact.

Train the blocker-to-defender peel — pull off the net, find the seam, and play defense.

High-volume cross-court digging — defender works the diagonal between two attackers continuously.

Train the blocker-to-defender transition through a fixed 6-ball sequence covering every common attack scenario.

Train defense through coach tip chase to target with a clear rep structure and game-like feedback.

Many of our drills are adapted from the coaching resources at Better at Beach and the FIVB.

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