Blocking

Individual Blocking
Three central points of training:  hands, feet, and brain.

Hands: Train blockers to penetrate the net and surround the ball.  Block    ers want to contact the ball on their opponents side of the net.      Hands should be firm with thumbs up.

Training the hands:    Blocking Progressions
    Reach and Bounce

Footwork:   All blockers should be trained in step - close, step - crossover and    even the five step footwork.  Goal of footwork is to get players in     position to front the hitter.

Training  footwork:  Fronting without ball.
    Fronting with ball.
    Blocking footwork warm - up.
    Get out of the hole.

Brain:  Good blockers know the situation, recognize the tendencies of     their opponent's hitters, setters and offense.  Situations can be     trained.

Training the brain:  Net decision.
    Good pass / bad pass blocking.

Team Blocking
Central concepts of team blocking:  communication, discipline, effort. 

Communication: Wing blockers communicate to tell the middles when to      jump.  Middles focus on closing and leave timing up to wing     blockers. 

Training team blocking: Box training ( one hitter, two hitters, three hitters )
    Ready - ready - up.
    Jump and close

Keys to training
blocking: Reward aggressiveness.
  Punish players that are lazy and out of control in their blocking.
  Discipline and trust.
  Be realistic when using boxes.
  Bad blockers need more reps than good blockers.
  Focus on footwork and technique during training fatigue.
  Stuff blocks are not the only good blocks.