Multi-Ball Drills for Mental and Physical Development

Before I arrived at Bradley, I was a club director and high school coach in Indianapolis. I was always on the lookout for creative ways to stress our athletes mentally and physically while improving our skill set on the court (don’t we all). I was lucky to come across this multi-ball circuit innovated by Ray Gooden and the Northern Illinois University volleyball program that does just that. The different variations of this circuit are designed to be co-operative in nature - focusing on communication, ball control, and thinking forward on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

Getting your team mentally engaged at the start of training is a struggle many of us deal with. I would absolutely recommend using Variations A and B separately as a part of your warm-up in addition to or in place of traditional pepper. I felt this adjustment allowed our practices to start off a little more crisp. You can also use Variations A-D as a progression style drill.