by Volleyball Players for Volleyball Players

This month's Training Tip comes from Charlie Parker's conditioning, I've edited this section for Adult Club Teams.

Agility

 Previous Training Tips

4/99 Nutrition and Energy

5/99 Breathing

6/99 Should I stay or go

7/99 Common Drills

8/99 The Approach

9/99 Attitude

10/99 Better Passing

11/99 The Pancake

The perfect dig...arms extended, elbows locked, balanced feet, flat platform, and eyes glued on the ball. You pass the ball perfectly to the target. What gets the athlete to this point? Desire and agility are two things, here we discuss agility.

Most people train for linear movements. Jog here, jog there; 100 dash here, 100 dash there. But what does this have to do with volleyball? Think about it. You have a thirty foot by thirty foot square on your side of the net. If a player charges from the serving line to the net for over thirty feet, he or she gets clothes-lined by the net. So doesn't it make sense players try to train more laterally, using agile movements toward the ball in explosive bursts? Close your eyes. Think about playing right now...the ball is served. Where do you move first? That's right. Any direction. Not just linearly. So let's start training to move in all directions. Remember, in volleyball, the body's functions involve three systems for movement. The first is the osseous or bone system that provides structure. The second is the muscular system which provides control of the athlete. The last system is the proprioceptive system (that comes mostly from the subconscious) which coordinates and directs all movements. These are affected by gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum. We use these systems to move across the court. In this way, the isolated strength gains are minimized, while neuromuscular systems are emphasized. Neuromuscular recruitment of the muscles...you know the other 80% to 85% of your brain that we don't use. The brain and the body are so talented. The brain does what it needs to do to stay alive with or without your thoughts and ideas. For example, many volleyball players are amazed when they realize the power of this "neuromuscular stuff." The dormant part of their brains comes alive when they pass the ball to the target in in disbelief. "How the heck did I do that?" That's the beauty of it all. Be coachable. Train all four phases of agility. Your athleticism will quadruple. Let's train movements specific to volleyball and not just isolating muscles in the weight room. Both give you strength but one is more sport specific to volleyball.

Now, back to agility. Agility drills teach body control and awareness from the centered position. This enables you to explode in any direction on the volleyball court. There are four phases of agility. It's a step-by-step progression right up to the last phase which involves scrimmaging which we over emphasize.

You need to learn the ability to stand, walk, and stop in a balanced manner. Focus on your center of gravity, posture, and proper foot placement. A few minutes of practice a couple of times a week early in the season can greatly enhance improvement in balance.

A large part of coordination is performed by breaking a skill down into parts, then slowly uniting the parts. Stand or walk on a balance beam. Try a two by four board, walking backwards with your eyes closed, trotting down a line while a team member who lightly pushes or pulls you off your course. Also, try different activities such as, tumbling, rolling, and footwork drills.

In this area we use foot speed ladders, weighted jump ropes, and cones to direct us to learn the moves of a more balanced, quick, and agile volleyball player. With the quick foot ladder, the brain quickly learns the slow progression and the feet become faster. I want to make an important point here. I really don't believe that it is how many repetitions you do, it is "are any reps done at all?" Do you have a written program to follow? You need to build a program that incorporates all four phases of agility. This way you will learn faster and it will be stored into your brain forever! Fifty years from now you can still do the "in, in, out, out" drill as long as you are in reasonably good physical condition. It is STORED in your subconscious. You can juggle some tennis balls to improve your hand-eye coordination and your will automatically store the information. Or you could make skating motions low to the floor, just like a volleyball player, from the endline to the net. Your brain stores this information also! Now we're moving with better balance and with coordination. It's all because we practiced in a progressive manner which is easier for the brain to comprehend.

This is a more advanced level of agility where we train with unknown patterns of movement. During this stage we also do interval training for a specific amount of time. In a volleyball match, the average rally is about seven seconds. Therefore, we want to train ourselves for powerful, short explosions across the court. We need to stress controlled and powerful starting and stopping. Now you should have practiced all four phases. You have learned all the parts of agility. It all comes together here. So, let's do it right! Agility is the most underdeveloped area in athletics. The usual excuse is "we don't have time." Yes you do! And you'll love it. You always need a change of pace in your volleyball programs. It's fun to work on specifics for volleyball. The progression has been proven to be the most efficient and quickest way to learn speed, quickness and agility. And don't forget to HAVE FUN!