your setter and the offense - championship productions sett… · spin moves for advanced setters...

Your setter and the offenseSalima Rockwell-Penn State University

1) What to look for in a setter

a. Leadership

b. Athleticism

c. Ability to make those around them better

d. Combine roles (best hitter might be all of the above-6-2 option?)

e. GREAT communicators

2) What is the best offensive system for your team?

a. 5-1-athletic/understands the game/good leader

b. 6-2-maybe best hitter is best setter/both can attack/enough arms?

c. 4-2-slower setters/younger kids

3) Knowing all of the sets/tempos/hand signals

a. Sets and Tempos (flight):

i. 3rd tempo sets: out of system 4, out of system 5, out of system back row

ii. 2nd tempo-go to the pin, rip or 32, 2 ball or x, back 2, c to the pin, back row in system

iii. 1’s tempo-shoot, 31, 1, b1, slides from different spots, bic

4) Understanding the offense

a. Consistent hittable ball-the most important set

b. Best swings-who is the most effective hitter? Does the setter know who this is…my guess is yes!

c. Hot hitters-What happens when someone else having a great night? You set them!

d. Isolating hitters-getting the hitters one on one…not easy but crucial for development

e. Good-smart-fancy-always set in this order!

f. Do they understand rotations/options/stacking/spreading etc.-setter needs to be able to make adjustments or at least understand them on the fly. Passing patterns, different play sets


g. When to force swings to hitters, when to be smart and safe-this should be discussed by the coach

h. Setters need to know their hitters. What type of set do they like? Tempo/flight etc. How do you pump up your hitters and give them the ball they need not want? Tricky tricky…

i. It’s ideal to let the setters run the offense on their own so they learn how to lead and not look at the bench-Ample time must be spent explaining strategy/offensive plan for your team etc., for this to work

5) Body position

a. Always get completely under the ball and be balanced

b. Sprint to the net and move from there

c. Open to entire court as the pass is received (back to the net)

d. When training the footwork-especially to new/young kids emphasize pushing off back foot to run, not “stepping” with front foot to initiate movement

e. The motion should come from your back loaded leg forward all the way to the fingertips

f. Body in a consistent neutral position

g. Square to the outside hitting position-control hips and feet to manage over rotation etc

h. Feet shouldn’t be too narrow ( common issue with balance-trying to get right foot forward so feet end up too close together)

i. Best way to be “tricky” is to be consistent with your body no matter what set you make

j. Toss the ball to the setter and calling out go or ‘c’ before they set to keep their body in the same position whether they are setting forward or back. The later the call the harder it becomes

6) Jump setting

a. Key skill as setters advance, but remember if they can’t execute on the ground DON’T expect it in the air. Be patient because a quality set always trumps jump setting.

b. Loading legs and being in position to max jump every time

c. Hold and pause in the air then set. Remember this is a jump set…not a set jump

d. Hands in and body in same position as they were on the ground setting


7) Awareness of the other side of the net

a. Training setters to ‘see’ the other side

i. Who is front row

ii. What are the match ups

iii. Where are your blockers starting

b. Drill to train this

i. Setter at net with blocker on other side moving right before contact-slower for inexperienced setters, later for more

ii. Game to 15 only score one on one (coach’s discretion)

iii. Mid drill make your setter face you and tell you who is in the front row on the other side

iv. They need to look every time to see what’s going on

8) Offensive strategies-What is the goal?

a. By rotation

i. Our strength in this rotation is X and Their weakness is X

ii. Match ups vs. the opponent-

b. Isolate your hitters

i. Reverse the flow

1. Training and footwork

ii. Overload

1. go-31-c to set the go

2. go-t-c to set the c

c. Exploit

i. Weak blocker? Set over her

ii. Weak defender or forcing the setter to play the first ball (setters that make their team great or run an offense too fast for your team to defend)


1. Combinations or play sets that force the hitters to attack in that direction

2. Adjusting the SR pattern to get the match up you want

d. Hold blocker

i. Predicated off of a good pass

ii. Jump setting

iii. Speed of the offense/even the pass

e. Beat the blocker to a spot

i. Are they in a bunch read to start-then run fast to pins and avoid inside combos

ii. Are they spread to start-run plays inside the block and into the gaps

iii. Are they a swing blocking team-speed to pins and catch in the ‘load’

f. Coach has to help communicate the opponents defense

i. Rotational

ii. Perimeter

iii. 3 across

iv. Middle up

9) Playing at a high level-creating an offense with the back row/setter dump

a. A, B, Pipe, C, D

b. When to use them and how

c. Creating space-opening up room for someone to attack

d. What to avoid:

i. A pipe with a 1 (at your level)

ii. A slide with a d

iii. A 4 or go with an a

e. How do you make it work?

i. Spread the offense to open up the pipe (go-31-pipe-5) (go-dump-pipe-slide)


ii. Stack to open up the ‘d’ (go-1/31-b1-d) (go-1/31-dump-d)

iii. Run this vs. defense

10) Drills to make the setters think (competitive drills I discussed in the first session)

a. Left vs. left

b. 2 points for back row or middle

c. Set over small blocker (have them move)

11) Technical training

a. Hands-Ball shaped hands/hands on hips/window/pitcher of water etc.

b. Hands come up to forehead evenly and at the same time (not waiting with one hand in the air-will only cause contact to be uneven)

c. Ball must touch all fingers-covering surface area

d. Soft touch with quick release-difficult combination.

e. Wrists and finish/touch and release-the key to controlling the ball and the speed of the set

f. Ball must be centered on forehead-always! Consistent contact point

g. Start with toss to partner-catch and hold/release and freeze position

h. Thumbs are back pointing toward the forehead/finish with hands even at the end

12) Wall setting

a. The best way to train the combination of touch and speed

b. Start with small short sets right in front of setter-sets of 50 or so. (catch and set then advance)

c. Lots of feedback on release/ball position on forehead

d. Progress to different heights on the wall while moving back a step or two

e. 100 quick (1st tempo) against wall (arms distance, ball above head, isolate wrists)

f. 50 quick (1st tempo same as above) include deep knee bends at least 20 while setting

g. 100 (2nd tempo) against wall (5 feet from wall, good hand position, keep hands up)


h. 50 (3rd tempo), wall sets 20ft away with bounce, get ball to peak into wall-with partner-let ball bounce and shuffle back with l-r into ball

i. 25 right hand, move to two while setting continuously and switch to left without a break

j. 4X10 (1st tempo) jump setting

13) Different movements while working on touch

a. Walking to the net while setting with ball just above head-continuous and back. Progress to jogging, skipping, shuffle, karaoke etc.

b. Great for coordination and touch

14) Footwork

a. Important to train effective and efficient movements while allowing your setter to be ATHLETIC, NOT A ROBOT

b. Loaded legs, ready to run with hands prepared to set (by your side)

c. Many ways to train but last two steps on the ground left right

d. Footwork movement shadow work (line drills)

1. Left (hands in posture) right/ (20)

2. Shuffle on net (r, l-r set) (20)

3. Shuffle forward (r, l-r set) and backward (l, r-l, r set) (20)

4. Lead cross over (l, r (x-over), l-r set)

5. One foot footwork – (l,r, l) spin, staying on ground

6. One foot jump- (l, r, l-r) with jump

e. Spin moves for advanced setters and emergency moves.

15) Vision

a. Setter needs to have great court awareness and vision and combine that with decision making

b. Did my outside just pass and is now on the ground? Can I see that? Should I set her?


c. Training peripheral vision is key to isolation of hitters-have a person on the other side of the net moving slightly left and right as the setter is about to contact the ball. They need to set in the opposite direction of where the “blocker” is moving

d. Help them identify weak or small blockers and have them train knowing or seeing where they are to exploit that weakness

e. Identifying speed of hitters approach (advanced but extremely important as setters develop)

your setter and the offense - championship productions sett… · spin moves for advanced setters...

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