7 free ways to Practice Volleyball In The Off-Season
Posted on: 7/10/24
Last updated: 3/7/25
Author: Thalia Urena
7 free ways to practice volleyball in the off-season
Training in the off-season as an athlete is an essential step to ensuring your skills learned during your regular season months are not lost.
Many athletes tend to sign up for off-season club teams which can look great for college recruiters, and help you get extra reps, and experiences with different coaches in the off-season. However, with the high price often associated with club volleyball teams many athletes cannot afford to get those necessary reps without paying a big price.
Thankfully there are many ways you can practice volleyball that won’t cost you any (or very little) money.
In this blog post I will go over 10 ideas to help you get reps in the off-season without any (or very little) money:
1) Ball Control
2) Serving & Hitting
3) Agility & Strength
4) Visual and Mental training
5) + Captains practices, YMCA, Beach Volleyball, etc!
1) Ball Control Drills
Cost: Free
Number of players needed: 1 and up
Materials needed: Volleyball
Our first main topic to cover is ball control drills. This is one of the most important aspects of volleyball, which impact most (if not all) aspects of the game.
Wall Passing: Find a flat wall outdoors and practice forearm passing with the wall in correct passing position. Your goal is to pass consistently with the wall without much interruption or mistakes. Try to hit the same spot on the wall each time you pass.
Wall Setting: With the same idea as wall passing, your goal is to set back and forth with the wall without mistake/interruption. Remember to ensure your form is correct each time you set (Hand placement, feet, elbows).
Wall pepper: With the same idea as wall passing and setting, you now will have a goal of peppering with the ball consistently. For those who do not know what peppering is: 1st contact: pass, 2nd contact: set, 3rd contact hit. You can mix this up in many ways such as you pass, set, hit and aim to hit at the wall. You could also pass towards the wall, set back to the wall, and then attack the ball as it comes back to you immediately after each contact.
Partner Pepper: You would need yourself and a partner, and instead of using a wall you now will pepper back and forth with a partner. Remember this looks like: pass, set, hit. So, if you toss the ball to start towards your partner, they will pass the ball back to you, you will set that pass back to them, and they will hit that set back to you, and the 3 steps continue ideally without stopping.
2) Serving & Hitting
Cost: Free
Number of players needed: 1
Materials needed: Volleyball
Serving practice: Grab a volleyball and start to focus on your serving form. You do not need a net to practice your serving form/technique! Remember that your toss, contact point, and strength of swing are things to focus on. Ensure you have enough space to serve the ball without losing it of course! This would be a perfect time to practice your quick serving routine, watch your toss, and contact point!
Approach Drills: Find a clear starting point (a line on the floor, etc) and practice your hitting approach. Remember there are a few ways to approach on an attack, but typically we learn the 3 or 4 step approach. Ensure you have a powerful first step, and land facing your “setter”.
Arm Swing: To accompany the previous drill, you can also grab a volleyball and practice your contact point with a wall. Remember to contact the ball with your full palm, and a bit on top of it! I suggest watching professional volleyball to see exactly where they contact the ball for a better visual!
3) Strength & Agility
Cost: Free
Number of players needed: 1
Materials needed: None
Jump training: Jump squats, box jumps, broad jumps
Core and strength training: Planks, Russian twists, leg raises
Agility + Footwork drills: Go to your local park and use the hopscotch lines to practice your agility and footwork such as lateral shuffles, high knees, and quick steps.
Please remember to always stay safe, and workout at your own capability. It’s important you do your research before doing any exercises to ensure you do them properly, but also meet your current athletic level.
4) Visual Training
Cost: Free -Tv subscription
Materials needed: Phone, or Tv
Watch College and Professional Volleyball: Every coach, and athlete says how you also need to watch volleyball to get better at it. So, you can look up free volleyball matches on Youtube, watch matches on YoutubeTv, etc.
Go to a College match: There are many free ways to go watch a college or high school volleyball game in person! You can easily find local high school or college teams schedules online and many high school and D3 college teams do not require ticket purchasing (Ensure you research before going, every school is different and may require payment).
5) Captains practices
Cost: Free
While some schools may have a different name for this, captain’s practices are exactly what you think they are… practices run by the regular season’s captains. Coaches are not allowed to coach in the off-season to keep resources fair between all local schools and programs, so running captains practices is a great way to still use gym time in the off-season.
As the coach I am often in the gym as my captains still need an adult present to be in the school’s gym or our school's athletic director is present. I often sit there and work on my laptop, still abiding by the “no off-season coaching” rule for my area.
At captain's practices, new, or returning players get free access to the school’s gym with leadership from the program’s captains. This gives players the amazing opportunity to get those necessary reps in the off-season, but also create (or maintain) connections to players who are already in the program.
Weekly captains practices in the off-season can look like:
Monday practice: 1:00pm-3:00pm (with net and volleyball’s)
Wednesday workout: 9:00am-11:00am (weights, floor workout, etc)
If you are a new player be on the lookout for your schools volleyball program to have an interest meeting where hopeful players can sign up to receive emails about off-season practices like the ones I listed above.
Captains practices (or off-season practices in your schools gym) should be your main resource for free training.
Be sure to be in touch with your school’s captains, athletic director, or the program’s head coach in order to get more information on off-season captains practices!
6) Outdoor/beach volleyball
Cost: Free (Check location info as it may vary)
Materials needed: Volleyball & friends!
Some beaches have free volleyball nets included, making a fun and free way for players to get a great workout in the off-season. It’s important to note that beach volleyball is different than indoor, so just be prepared to make some adjustments as you go from playing indoor, to outdoor, etc in the off-season.
You will need at least one other partner to do this, but you can play doubles (2 vs. 2), and you can also still run a team of 6 with beach volleyball. Any way you choose you will get a great workout with this option!
You will need to ensure you (or any people showing up) have a good quality volleyball to play with for this option.
7) YMCA/gym membership
Cost: (Location prices may vary)
(I have no affiliation with the YMCA, and am aware this is an option that does cost some money if you don’t already have a membership) but this is a great idea given to me by my high school athletes.
In the off-season (and sometimes even after regular season practices) my athletes will go to our local YMCA to utilize their volleyball net or to use their weights/gym equipment.
Many of my players already had a membership through their family before playing volleyball so this is a “free” off-season option for them. Including this was important since some people may already have a membership and just don’t utilize it for their local gym. Even if your gym doesn’t have a volleyball net, you can work on your strength with weights or gym equipment.
In conclusion…
Everyone should have access to training in the off-season with or without money. It is great that athletes who can afford clubs or camps in the off-season utilize it, but it is also amazing when athletes who cannot utilize that option find ways to still train in the off-season.
As a kid, I worked all summer to be able to afford some day camps, and my mom paid for a club team my junior year… so I know how both ends can feel. Either way, I got useful reps and training for my upcoming regular season, and I was always working hard to improve in my favorite sport (volleyball).
Use your creativity to work on your volleyball skills, just like you are doing now by reading this blog post! You’re already doing amazing things to improve in the sports, keep it up!
See you in a future blog post!
-Coach T