Coaching U-U-12 Part 1

Volleyball for kids who can't play volleyball yet

Spring is here and summer is on its way, so many coaches and club programs are planning new programs. I get asked about volleyball for very young kids. Typically, U-12 volleyball is the youngest team at a club. USAV/JVA have added U-11 or U-10 tournaments to a degree, but it’s still not very common. Here’s some thoughts on putting a volleyball program going for 5-10 year olds.

1v1, 2v2, or 4v4
I think 6v6 is a waste of time for most kids 10-and-below. Kids will go long stretches without playing the ball, the court is too big, and the added complexity of all those people on the court creates a difficulty that’s too high for a typical 9 year-old kid. For kids that are 10-and-below, I like trying to build up to a 4v4 game of volleyball: 2 in the front and 2 in the back like a square. You’ll also want to keep the court smaller if you can. Something like 15’ x 15’ is about right for this level of kid.

The best 9 and 10 year olds can definitely process and keep up with a 6v6 game on a full-size court, but in my opinion, those kids should just push up to a U-12 team. Many kids that are 9 or 10 will also find 4v4 volleyball too challenging and 2v2 or even 1v1 type stuff is totally appropriate for them.

For kids that are more in the 7 or 8 year-old range, trying to build up to a 2v2 game on a court that’s something like 10’ x 10’ is about right. Pickleball nets are great for this or you can rig up strings off your main net.

For all these kids (and even older kids!), 1v1 games are also great. The great thing about 1v1 is that it forces a level of engagement the whole time you are playing. At least half of typical 7-10 year olds will immediately disengage in 6v6 and completely defer to the couple of dominant kids who will go after every ball. (Or even worse: every kid will disengage and the ball will just drop every time) 2v2 creates more engagement, but kids will defer to the dominant partner even in 2v2. As a rule: the less confident and assertive the kids are, the more you want to use 1v1 games. This builds the habit of expecting the ball and going after it every time.

1v1 also coincides with the helpful fact that little kids are… little! If you pick up a couple of cheap pickleball nets, you can put at least one in the back-court on each side of the court. If you then drop your main net as low as it can go, you can play 2-3 1v1 games on mini-courts on the main net, plus additional games on the pickleball nets in the back-court. This allows you to have a ton of balls in the air at once, which means way more contacts per kid.

Speaking of which…

Number Of Contacts
Potential hot take here: I think 3-contact volleyball is overrated for very young kids. To be honest, I think even at U-12 volleyball, it’s over-emphasized a bit. Kids gain confidence from success, and the number-1 internal success trigger is getting the ball over the net. The number-1 internal failure trigger is letting the ball drop on your side. So with beginner-beginners, I love them to just have the mindset of “get the ball over the net.” As their ability to do that increases, you should work toward multiple contact rallies.

For a typical 5 or 6 year-old, I find that multiple contacts only really works when they have a skilled (adult or teenager) partner to correct their contacts and help them through it. Even then, I don’t really worry about it. I also don’t enforce a 3-contact limit. Take as many contacts as you need to get the ball over! (Spoiler alert: they generally won’t get the ball over anyway)

Even for 7 or 8 year-olds, 1-contact is going to be their bread and butter. And that’s fine! Volley-tennis is a great warmup for older players because you need to move and cover the court, anticipate where the ball is going, and have a strong touch to send the ball back over. These are great skills for beginning players too. Your standard “good” (not prodigy-level, just engaged kids who try hard) 7 or 8 year-olds can build up to a decent game of 2v2 1-touch on a 10’ x 10’ court where the ball will regularly cross the net multiple times. Once they get to there, multiple-contacts can start to be taught and developed.