Solo drills for middle hitter

Question
My 9th daughter plays middle for her high school JV team.  We are not going to be able to play club-ball this off season and I am trying to find some drills she can do solo to stay sharp and improve (especially her lateral footwork and net approach).  Any suggestions?

Answer
Tracy,

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you but practice and games have all but taken over my life (and my wife confers that every time I see her).

Do you have a net and a ball?  Or are you just looking for some conditioning drills?

I'll give you a few movement drills.  Middles have to jump at least once on every rally and they need to jump on every play on either offense or defense.  So jumping and plyometric drills are a must.  

Blocking.  Penetrating is a must.  It is better to penetrate 6" over the net than a foot above the net so if you have a net hold a ball 4" over the net and about 3" behind it and have your daughter try to reach over and touch the ball.  If this is to far or high adjust the distance, if it is to easy do the same.  The net is 7' 4 1/4" high if you don't have one use a rope and try do do the jump drill that way.

Movement.  A middle has to move both left and right.  I'm not sure if you know the footwork but I will assume you do.  Have her jump (and always penetrate the net), land, move to the right side, jump, land move back to the middle, land, move to the left side, jump and return and jump in the middle.  This is done with the crossover step.  She can also do some side step jumps.  Remember she is jumping a ton of times so she will get tired and tired athletes a more prone to injury.

Approaches.  As a middle she will need to hit a variety of sets so she should practice them all.  If you cannot do this with a ball she can just practice each approach.  1' and 2' have the same foot work, she will also need to practice slides and 3's.  I don't know what the level is in high school but she ma also need to practice back 1's.

For some plyometric drills Google plyometrics to get an understanding of the concept (if you don't already know) and a few drills.

If you need more information or ideas e-mail me at [email protected].

Good luck
Steve