Serving Drills

Question
Coach,

What are your favorite serving drills?  I have found that most serving drills are like foul shooting drills (you can`t win if you can not do the skill but practicing the skill gets very boring fast).  Do you have a drill or two that will work serving and keep the players interest?

Thanks
Steve

Answer
Steve:
   I've just spent over half an hour typing a detailed, and hopefully helpful, response to your inquiry only to be cut off by AOL, losing all my "valuable" info in the process.  I hate when that happens!!!!  I'm sending you this interim response to let you know that I can help and so that you can send me an e-mail at [email protected] if I get cut off again.  Include your return e-mail address and I'll get to you one way or another.
 Wish me Luck . . .
                   -Crutch

OK, here goes!
    You are absolutely right; it is extremely difficult and important to find the right balance between repetition (for skill improvement and muscle memory) and variety (to maintain enthusiasm).  Because of the importance of serving, we spend between 10-20 minutes serving everyday, but I try to vary the drills to maintain interest and still repeat the basic skills.   Here are some of the drills I find effective:
    -Free Serve:  I usually start with a few minutes of free serving.  The players may choose their own service area and type of serve but should maintain a focus on hitting the intended service area and keeping the serve in play.  This allows them to get loose with a minimum of pressure.
    -Tough Serve: We then shift to their "Ace" potential serves (jumpers, deep and short corners, etc.) with the focus on level of difficulty.  Missed serves are OK here as long as the player is pushing his limits and expanding his capabilities.
    Typically I will mix in an occasional 1 minute timed drill with penalties for each missed serve in the "safe" serves or "lollipops" (too easy serves) during the tough drill.
    -Floaters:  I'm a huge believer in the floater as I feel it is the most difficult serve to return (when it's done right) and has a much lower error potential.  We start with "safe" floaters, move to deep, then short and finally tough floaters.  To maintain interest and discipline I will mix in an occasional timed drill (usually a minute) with penalties for "improper" serves: (any missed serves during the safe drill; any nets or front court serves on deep drill; any long or back court serves on shorts, and any "lollipop" serves in the tough drill.  I allow missed serves (long on the deep drill and nets in the short and tough drills) to encourage the proper areas and to allow the players to find their range.
    -Service Areas:  Players serve from both sides and are all given a single service area to shoot for
    -Coach's Choice:  Each player is given an individual service area to serve (usually via hand signals to simulate game situations)  This allows the players to learn and demonstrate knowledge of the various service areas (we use the "9" area or "Phone Pad" configuration, complete with seam calls), hand signals and service accuracy.
    - Area Competition Drills:  Players are divided into two teams and given a common service area and a 90 second time limit. One point is awarded for an accurate service area, 0 points for a serve in bounds but not within the designated area and a point is subtracted for any missed serves.  The first team to 10 is the winner and you might reward the winners (typically with girls they receive a 1 minute shoulder massage from their vanquished opponents) or punish the losing team with push-ups, wall-sits, line drills, wall sits, etc. depending upon the psychological make-up and responsiveness of your team and players. Another fun and effective consequence is to require the losing team to do their sit-ups or push ups on the court while the winners continue serving. For some reason this seems to really encourage and enhance accuracy!  Go figure?
   Three Step Serve:  This drill combines serving accuracy with blocking, conditioning and diving skills.  The players serve from the right corner (you can tell I'm a traditionalist) to the sideline corner (my area "3"), follow their serve sprinting to the net, gather and execute a right side block, go outside the pole and sprint to the back corner where they execute a dive for the ball (girls may substitute a roll here), pop-up, find a ball and get back in the service line on the opposite side.  Typically this drill lasts two minutes with additional time added for missed serves, non-penetrating blocks or nets and/or lack of hustle.
   Double-Serve Drill:  Players are split into two teams, each with a setter, passer in area 3, and the rest in a service line.  The server serves to the area 3 passer on the opposite court (I encourage them to visualize a target or weak passer and make him move for the ball but within the target area); the passer executes a pass to the setter and the setter catches the ball in a setting hand posture position.  The server then takes the passer's spot; the passer the setter's spot and the setter either catches the pass (or shags any errant pass) and gets in the service line with the ball: (each side is self-contained)  This drill should run smoothly and quickly usually until 20-30 good passes are executed.  I will also typically deduct 5 passes from the total any time two passes are shanked or unsettable in a row to emphasize the importance of passing, especially when there has been a passing error on the immediately preceding play.
     There are many other drills I use which incorporate serving in a more comprehensive format (Serve-receive; wash drills; scrimmages etc.) but hopefully this will give you a few ideas.   I hope I was helpful and free to send me an e-mail or give me a call if anything isn't clear or if you would like to discuss these or any other drills in more detail.
    Best of Luck . . .
                         Crutch