Digging a down ball

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Volleyball drill · Age 10 and up

A down ball is an attack hit from a standing position, from behind the attack line, and it is the attack youth teams face most. It is also the most diggable ball in volleyball, if the defenders are in the right place before it is hit. This drill teaches the down-ball call, the drop to the digging spots, and a dig that goes high to the target instead of back over the net.

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Time
15 minutes
Players
Three back-row defenders, a setter and a coach, in groups of five
Equipment
  • A box or a step for the coach, set up across the net behind their attack line
  • A cart of balls

Setup

  1. The coach (C) stands across the net, 3.6 metres off it, just behind their attack line.
  2. Our setter (S) is at the target, a metre off the net and 6 metres from the left sideline.
  3. The back row start in base, up the court: the defensive specialist (DS) on the left 5 metres back, the libero (L) in the middle 6 metres back, and the outside hitter (OH) on the right 5 metres back.
  4. The coach calls down ball and hits it a moment later. The back row drop to their digging spots, the DS and OH 6.6 metres back near the sidelines and the L 7.8 metres back.
  5. The coach hits at the DS in zone 5, who digs it high to the setter. Rotate the defenders after every five balls.

Coaching points

  • Call it: whoever sees the attacker is not jumping shouts down ball, and everyone moves.
  • Be stopped before the ball is hit. A defender still moving at contact cannot react.
  • Low and wide, weight forward, platform out in front early. Let the ball come to the platform.
  • Dig it high and to the middle of our court. A high dig anywhere is better than a perfect dig nobody can reach.

On the run sheet: Down ball: drop to your spot and stop before it is hit. Low, still, platform out, and dig it high to the middle of our court

Progressions

  1. The coach mixes in tips, so a defender reading a down ball has to come forward.
  2. The coach hits from a jump, so the back row must decide between down ball and a hard attack.
  3. Add a hitter, so a good dig becomes a set and an attack.

How it runs

Our back row start in base, a little up the court: the defensive specialist (DS) on the left, the libero (L) in the middle and the outside hitter (OH) on the right, with the setter (S) at the target. Across the net the coach (C) stands behind their attack line. When the coach calls down ball, the back row drop together to their digging spots, deep and wide. The coach hits the down ball at the DS in zone 5, across the court and down, and the DS digs it high to the setter. The animation ends as the dig reaches the target.

The drop matters as much as the dig. A down ball is easy to read and easy to dig, but only for a defender who is in their spot and stopped before the ball is hit.

The rule it is practising

The first contact and the three hits. A team has three hits to return the ball, and the dig is the first of them. The FIVB Official Volleyball Rules are generous with it: at a team's first hit the ball may touch more than one part of the body in a row, as long as it is one action, so a dig off a forearm and a shoulder is legal where a set like that would be a double contact. A dig that goes high to the setter leaves the team its other two hits, a set and an attack, and a dig that goes straight back over the net wastes them.

Youth leagues are often more lenient again on a first contact, and mini-volleyball and 4 v 4 play on a smaller court, so check your federation's or league's rules.

The mistakes to watch for

Defenders still moving when the ball is hit. Standing tall with straight legs. Swinging the arms at the ball, which sends it back over the net or into the stands. And two defenders leaving a ball between them because nobody called it.

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