Whether you are a beginner looking to make the jump to intermediate or a solid advanced player, we can all use more practice in transition. Here are a few of my favorite transition zone drills. Remember, with any drills, each person has a role to make the drill a success!
7/11
In this drill, one person is at the baseline and one is at the kitchen. The player at the kitchen feeds a ball to the baseline player to start the point. The player at the baseline will try to make their way up to the net while the kitchen player will try to keep their court advantage. The player at the baseline has to score 7 points before the player at the kitchen scores 11 (rally score). Remember, it should be harder for the player at the baseline to score which is why they only have to go to 7.
Beat the clock
One player starts at mid-court while one player is at the net. Start a timer for two minutes and the kitchen player starts to feed balls. The mid-court player is trying to get 10 balls to bounce in the kitchen before the timer runs up. If they can get 10 balls to bounce, they win. The net player is working on taking balls out of the air and not letting the balls bounce. They can win by lasting the whole two minutes without 10 balls bouncing. If 2 minutes is too easy, lower the time.
Drop it in the bucket
One person is at the kitchen line while one player is at mid-court. For this drill, you will need a bucket, bag, or anything you can try to hit the ball into. The person at the net feeds balls while the player at mid-court tries to drop the ball into the bucket. This drill is great to help you realize how much height is needed on the ball in order to get it to land in the kitchen. If you constantly hit flat shots in transition your opponent will be able to volley the ball which takes time away from the player trying to move forward.
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