Attacking · Intermediate

Pokey-Spike Decision Vision

Train the attacker to read defender hands — spike if hands are down, pokey if hands are up.

How to run it

1
P1 sets a high ball to himself. As the ball goes up, P2 either raises his hands (block) or leaves them at his sides. Hands up = P1 pokeys over. Hands down = P1 spikes over. P2 catches; switch. Progression 1: P2 plays the ball alive instead of catching.
2
Coach emphasis: Read the hands at peak. Wrong shot for the read = wasted rep.

Train the attacker to read defender hands — spike if hands are down, pokey if hands are up.

Keep building

Lock in the 3-step beach approach and a full high-contact arm swing.

Teach the two highest-percentage beach shots: short cross (cut) and deep line.

Use slow-mo partner video to fix approach flaws and add cross-body / wrist-away swings.

Train the attacker's read on the setter — go on the setter's hand release, not on the ball flight.

Bridge from warm-up swings to live attacking against a free ball — pass, set, hit cycle with limited misses.

Apply the scoop-throw torque pattern to live swings off a tossed ball.

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

Give us a call, send an email, or just stop by one of our events and chat with a coach.