One of the unique things about my school is that we design a special sports unit for the 5th graders that will introduce them to the sports we offer in middle school. Our goal is to expose them to the majority of the sports we offer to both girls and boys. This allows them to try something new that they may fall in love with and want to try once they enter 6th grade. Today, I will focus on one sport in particular: Volleyball!
The Warm Up: Familiarizing Students with Volleyball Skills
Getting students to touch a volleyball immediately allows them to familiarize themselves with the speed and reaction time necessary for the sport. I have them first bump the volleyball off one arm to the other, just back and forth. This forces them to focus on where the ball is and where it needs to go. As they get the hang of this, we progress on towards the proper form for bumping/passing to ourselves. So again, they toss the ball up, pass it up in the air, catch, and repeat. After a few minutes they partner up to pass back and forth, now they have a target to aim for: their partner.
Each day they come to class, we pick a new skill to develop just like this and create the same skill progression as we did with passing. Skills I choose to focus on in this PE unit are: serves [mainly underhand], passing, setting, and I teach the very basics of hitting.
Creative Volleyball Drills to Boost Engagement
Having students participate in drills can come with challenges, especially if this sport is not one they care for. So I add little components to keep it interesting and engaging.
Balloon Keep Up!
For instance, we do a balloon activity that requires them to hustle as fast as they can to keep the balloon in the air. This is a team activity that everyone loves because to keep the balloon from touching the ground, the students must actually sprint towards the balloon. At the same time, they are focusing on passing and strategy. We have to really keep the ball up in order for a teammate to receive the pass as well. My goal is for them to think to themselves: “We have to hustle to keep the ball up in order to execute an accurate pass to a teammate.”
Volleyball Serving: “Dead Fish”
Another skill I find that most students struggle with is serving. It is already a hard concept for actual volleyball players to nail down. So how do we encourage our students to keep trying through constant defeat? One way I like to do this is by playing a game called “Dead Fish”. How it works is someone is on one side of the net sitting or laying down in the middle. The rest of the group is on the opposite side of the net and they are serving across. If their ball gets touched by the “dead fish” they get to go join them and do the same thing.
We are trying to get everyone’s ball over and one thing I have noticed is that even with one person left, their classmates are extremely encouraging. So they aren’t focused on the fact they are the last one left, they just keep trying and feel fueled by their friends.
Making Volleyball Fun Without the Pressure!
I think every teacher at some point has dealt with the competitive nature that comes with playing games. My goal with this volleyball unit is to keep them engaged and enjoying it. When their competitive edge takes over, many students walk away feeling defeated and may develop negative feelings towards volleyball or any sport for that matter. To minimize that competitiveness I start the scrimmage with a beach ball. There are no points given so that students are not focusing on that aspect of the game. The following day we move onto an actual volleyball game and still are not keeping score. If you think a particular class of yours can handle keeping score, I encourage you to try it! They are exposed to working as a team and have to learn how to cooperate with one another in order to be successful in getting the volleyball over the net.
There are so many great resources out there that tie in volleyball games and drills to keep things fun and engaging. Any drill that targets a specific skill is always best to introduce at the class start so that they can transfer those learned skills into a game or other activity.
