The block: a three player action
Organisation:
1 ball for 3 players on 1/3 of the court (lengthways)Aim of the task:
Score / block the spikeInstructions:
- The spiker throws his own ball and tries to score preferably along the axis of the line.
- The blocker must defend this angle.
- The receiver covers the court behind the blocker then controls the ball and goes to spike.
Roles rotate by one place on each action.
The work focuses on the same points as the previous exercises. It allows a volume of practice in each role.
Due to the narrow nature of the target (1/3 of the court i.e. 3 m) focus is on the "closing" of the angle of attack along the line which conditions defence organisation behind the block in a match situation. A successful block with hands passing over the other side of the net is a winning direct counter-attack. Even when lobbed by a ball a well placed block plays a definite role of slowing down the attack and allows the rear defender to intervene.
Attack / block with 2 players each side
Further to this work, to work on the alternative block / defence on the ground, we can do some work with 2 against 2.
At the same time as the technical elements already covered, this situation allows to work on the complementarities of the block and of the rear defence. We insist upon the attack and defence of the target.
Players tend generally to value the physical challenge of the spike/block opposition to the prejudice of the main objective: "scoring". On the attacking side, we can see players hitting spikes against an ill-placed block, while it was possible to pass the ball to the side. We must come back to the essence of the game: scoring in the adverse court.
On the Defence side, we will intervene in the cases when the blocker jumps whereas the atttacker was in no position to hit a smash efficiently. In this case all he does is hide the ball from his rear defence without any defensive purpose and can even be tricked by a ball coming to him during the descending phase of his jump.