The Ultimate Volleyball Serving Conditioning Drill: “Serve 10 Race”
Posted on: 12/11/25
Last Updated: 12/11/25
Author: Thalia U.
Serving & Conditioning in one Volleyball Drill
It’s no secret that coaches at all levels are constantly trying to incorporate conditioning into their weekly practices. This is a way to ensure athletes are in shape, but can also be prepared for tiring rallies, 5 set matches, and strenuous seasons.
This serving conditioning drill, which I like to call the “Serve 10 Race” is one that is not only fun because of its added competition value, but it also helps your athletes practice multiple aspects of serving including physical and mental stamina.
Let’s dive right into the way you can run this drill with your team!
1) Setting up for the drill
When setting up for the Serve 10 Race conditioning drill you will use the entire volleyball court.
You will then evenly separate your team into two groups, keeping in mind that both teams collective serving consistency is even (or as close to even skill set as possible). An example of this can look like ensuring your two strongest, and most consistent servers are on opposite teams, as well as the two weakest servers (This is for coaches to note, not to point out to your athletes). This is important as one team being much stronger than the other creates a non-productive drill.
If you have an odd number of athletes you will instruct one side to pick one server who will serve twice. (This note will make more sense once we understand our second section ‘Running the drill’).
Lastly, ensure both sides have a ball cart filled with volleyballs to keep the drill running smoothly.
Once we have our team separated evenly into two, both teams are on separate sides, and they have ball carts…we are ready to start learning how to run the drill!
2) Running the drill
When explaining the Serve 10 Race conditioning drill you want to ensure a few points are crystal clear to your teams, which include:
One server per team will serve at a time. Each athlete needs to serve 10 balls total, however the catch is that a serve only counts towards the 10 if it went over the net and landed inside court lines (exactly like game rules on a serve)
If an athlete serves the ball and it doesn’t get over the net, or lands outside of court lines they must run to the net, touch it, and run back to serve again.
A missed serve does not count towards your 10 total serves. Example: I served 15 total times because I missed 5 serves, and had to try again.
Athletes cannot rush their serve, they must do their “serving routine” and aim to do a tough serve every time until completing the 10 total serves in.
Coaches will give athletes a few minutes before the race starts to choose who is going at what time (Example: if one team has 7 players they will decide who goes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).
Athletes will serve one at a time (per team), once an athlete completes 10 serves in the next athlete can start their 10 serves, etc until all athletes on the team completed their 10 serves.
3) Adding intensity to the drill
This is called a “race” after all, so adding intensity to this drill not only benefits your athletes, it also benefits the effort they put in from this added competitive value.
After ensuring both teams understand the core rules of the drill, and know the order of who’s serving when we are ready to prepare them mentally to succeed in the drill as well.
Tell your 2 groups that the team who finishes last has to still complete the drill (all athletes served 10 serves in) but they will also have an additional conditioning “consequence”.
This can be 5 laps around the volleyball court, 15 push ups, anything you can think of! Just ensure it is fitting to the athletic level of your team.
Adding this intensity into the drill helps athletes feel that pressure they might feel going back to serve on game point. Their team is counting on them, their exhausted by the 5th serve and maybe a few missed serves plus running to the net… perfect drill to practice it all!
4) conclusion
The serve 10 race conditioning drill is one I use numerous times a season with all levels as it helps athletes work on serving fundamentals, as well as the realistic pressure of being tired as they go through the 10 serves.
Adjust this drill how you see fit for your teams developmental level, and be sure to let me know how it works for your next practice!
(YouTube video for drill can be found at DefyingGravityVolleyball)
See you in the next blog post!
-Coach T