What to do at the first practice
Culture first, then a skill. That is our plan. YouTube
You do not need to be volleyball people.
Practice 1 is done. This week is the held-ball serve. Watch the serve videos again before Friday. Save the rotation clip for August 28.
Watch these again for Practice 2
- First practice mindset — 3:26
- How to teach the underhand serve — 6:37
- Forearm pass in 90 seconds — 1:34
- How to pass, beginner — 4:23
- USA Volleyball official cues — 1:19
Teach the underhand serve
Made for rec coaches and parent volunteers. YouTube
Forearm pass
How to pass
Official passing cues
This weekend, if you have an hour
How to teach volleyball to youth
A rec coaching clinic: warm-up, serving, passing, hitting. Watch at 1.25× and skip hitting. This is the closest thing to “someone show us how to run practice.”
Rules at kid speed
Not Mt. Bethel’s exact rec rules. Use it for the idea, then read the player packet. YouTube
How we coach this age
- One cue at a time
- Praise effort and “mine” louder than talent
- Walk a girl forward until the serve goes over
- More balls in the air, no lines of eight
- End on time so parents trust you
- Teach rotations before Practice 3
- Yell at a missed serve
- Let the same two girls take every ball
- Invent a new metaphor every Friday
- Compare one girl to another in front of parents
Written resources worth bookmarking
USA Volleyball 3rd–5th lesson plans
The national governing body’s 12-day elementary sequence. We borrowed the spirit, not the PE-class clock.
Get The Pancake · youth serve
The written version of this Friday’s serve lesson. Hold still. Hip contact.
Mt. Bethel Recreation
Master schedule, weather (sunshine icon), and staff.
Never be a child’s last coach
USA Volleyball’s reminder that the real score is “does she sign up again.”