“21 Down Drill” Presented by Sports Imports

By Nicole Venditte, Eastern Carolina Women’s Volleyball Assistant Coach

Focuses: Aggressive Serving and Consistent Serve Receive

There are many servers vs. passers drills out there, but this happens to be one of my favorites. It encourages competitiveness, and it can also be used in gyms with only five or six players, to gyms with many players and a couple of courts. This description will be based on if there is only one court and 10-14 players.

Players are split into two groups (side A and side B). Within each group, three people are designated to be the passers for the first round while the rest of the group will be serving. Each passing group begins at 21. Every pass is graded on a 0–3 point-quality scale. If a side A passer makes two quality passes, then one point is subtracted from 21 putting side A to20 points. If side A is aced on the next pass, which is a zero, then three points are subtracted from the 20, putting side A at 17 points. Each graded pass correlates with how many points are subtracted from the side’s score. Points continue to be subtracted until a team reaches zero. The team that did not reach zero first, wins.

If you have setters and enough players, they can set off the passers instead of using coaches as targets to incorporate more players in the drill. If servers are continuously missing serves, then extra points can be rewarded for the passers (back-to-back serves is a point added for the passers or for every three missed serves is a point added for the passers). For gyms with only enough for one group of passers and a couple servers, the servers also keep a score starting at 21. If the passer passes a three, then the serving side loses three points and drops to 18. You can also encourage tough serving by not subtracting any points from the servers if the passers pass a one (giving the one pass the same value as if it were an ace or overpass).

**Be sure the targets and/or coaches are calling out the points loud enough after each pass, so that each side knows how many points are left.

Within this drill, I enjoy how aggressive the serving must stay to help the passers on their side win. As scores begin to get into single digits, the pressure of a higher quality pass increases. When it gets to this point in the drill, it’s encouraged to watch how certain players body language and communication may change. Some players may begin to tense up more or drop communication while others may stay relaxed and encourage the servers to serve at them. This is a good drill to use if you have new players in your program want to evaluate how they respond to pressure.