Agility exercises for volleyball players

As part of her ongoing training series, Art of Coaching fitness editor Marie Zidek demonstrates 6 volleyball agility drills designed to increase speed and overall mobility. Zidek, a former assistant coach at the University of San Diego, now head coach at DePaul University and a certified strength and conditioning specialist, stresses that these drills go beyond just fitness training by helping athletes develop better spacial awareness, a key to efficient movement during a volleyball match.

1. Figure 8 backpedal with sprint

This volleyball agility drill helps players make quicker direction changes. It's particularly useful for movements that have to be made when a ball is deflected or comes off a blocker's hands.

2. Cone hop with backpedal

The exercise Marie introduces here involves jumping back and forth laterally over a row of cones: 3 cones for younger athletes, 5 or more for older athletes who have been playing volleyball longer.

This is a good injury prevention exercise because it trains the body to land from jumps in a controlled manner.

3. Forward lateral backpedal

This volleyball agility exercise involves changes of direction, from forward sprints to lateral shuffles. This is a good strength builder for the many quick moves players have to make in volleyball.

4. T Drill

Appropriately named, the T Drill requires athletes to sprint a course shaped like a "T". The example here is a mix of forward sprints and shuffles, but as Marie points out, coaches can be creative and include any number of volleyball-like moves.

The purposes of this drill are to work on smooth changes of direction, quick starts and stops and spacial awareness that allows players to stay focused on the game.

5. Y Drill

Similar to the "T Drill," the "Y Drill" builds strength, speed and agility for quick direction changes and helps volleyball athletes develop spacial awareness.

6. 4 Square

In this agility drill, 4 cones are placed to form a square, and the athlete moves quickly from the middle of the square to each cone and back. Variations include having a coach point to the cone where the athlete should go next. This adds an extra challenge and simulates a volleyball play by requiring the player to make head-up movements and focus on something besides footwork.

Step Up Your Game

Spending time on volleyball agility drills has the added benefit of conditioning your players’ bodies against injury and developing spatial awareness. It’s important to regularly focus on exercises that are tailored for this purpose.

For more gameplay techniques that challenge your players to refine their accuracy, browse our full directory of volleyball skills training and drills training. Or, sign up for a free two-week Premium membership trial to get more access to exclusive training videos and other resources for you and your players.