“Modified” The Volleyball Drill That Works All Skills On the Court
Posted on: 11/16/25
Last updated: 11/16/25
Author: Thalia U.
When planning practices coaches, especially at the youth-high school level, they often find it hard to hit multiple skills in a single Volleyball drill. As a head Varsity Girls Volleyball coach for the high school level I am always looking for drills to help “warm up” at the start of each practice.
This drill, which is called “modified” (respectively by my DHS team), is a drill which hits all points of Volleyball. Each player gets a chance at serving, blocking, serve receive passing, and hitting. (There is a designated setter on one side to account for the setting).
In this post I will explain the Modified drill which is a staple drill hitting some main points of Volleyball, but also a drill I ran at the start of every practice.
Setting Up for the Drill
To start you will need:
1 setter on side b of the court (position 2)
3 back-row passers on side b of the court (back row positions 1, 6, and 5)
1 outside hitter on side b of the court (hitting in position 4)
1 blocker on side a of the court (position 2, or 3)
The rest of your athletes will be behind the serving line with a ball on side a of the court
Extra: You can also have a middle on side b of the court starting in position 3 if you need more of a challenge for your teams level of experience/development
Running the Drill
The first person in the serving line will serve (servers on side a).
The athletes on side b (3 back-row passers, 1 setter, and 1 OH hitter) will serve receive that serve from the server and “play it out” (Example: Back-row passers pass, setter sets, OH hits it back over the net)
Once that play/serve is complete athletes will shift to the next position on the court. Here is a verbal reference for what that will look like:
Server (side a) to blocker (side a)
Blocker (side a) to OH hitter (side b)
OH hitter (side b) to back-row passer (side b, position 5)
Back-row passer (side b, position 5) to back-row passer position 6 side b
Back-row passer (side b, position 6) to back-row passer position 1 side b
Back-row passer (side b, position 1) to back of serving line (side a)
This system continues so each athlete gets to hit all points of this drill (serving, blocking, hitting, SR passing). Remember that the setter is stationary so they can continue to get reps with each service/pass.
In the next section I will go over how to add intensity to this drill for more experienced/developed teams.
Adding Intensity to the DRILL
For teams (like myself) which run this drill at the start of each practice you will likely also be looking for a way to transition your team out of this drill.
A great way to do that is by adding a numerical goal the last 5 minutes of the drill. If the team meets that goal they will not have a “punishment” (Ex: running laps, push-ups, etc). If they meet that goal/surpass it they will not have a “punishment”, and we will move into our first drill of the day.
This can look like:
Coach: (Blows whistle to freeze drill/athletes where they are standing) “You guys have 10 serves, and out of those 10 serves you need to give me 5 successful pass, set, kills”.
Ensure you make the rules clear prior to re-starting them on the drill. For example, if a server misses their serve that service does not count towards the 10. Also a “kill” must be inside court lines, and a free-ball is not counted towards any successful kills.
As the head coach you can modify (no puns intended) this drill how you see fit for your teams developmental level. You can intensify that expectation, lower it, or even alter this drill how you think will benefit your team the most.
Conclusion
The Modified drill is a drill I use at the start of every practice. It adds routine, expectation, and a consistency for each practice day. Please check out my Youtube video (linked at top of page) to watch my team run this drill and have me verbally explain it.
I hope to see you in another blog post!
-Coach T
(Business email: defyinggravityvolley@gmail.com)