Every team has a special warm-up routine, as evidenced by watching the match play at any local club tournament. Typically, the coaches are either tossing balls to players or observing with their arms crossed in a calm collected manner to demonstrate they have things under control. Most teams appear to be organized and teammates are communicating with each other. In most cases, the warm-up is a snapshot of harmony and solidarity.
Players have a tendency to sneak a peek at their opponents to see what their warm-up looks like and to pick up any last-minute tips about how good their opponents are.
In some cases it is intimidating to check out the opposing team’s warm-up routine, especially when their setters make Alisha Glass look like she has wooden hands and their middles jump higher and hit harder than Inky Ajanaku.
On the other hand, some warm-ups give a team a warm fuzzy feeling that the match will be over in two quick sets.
One of the most unique warm-up drills/routines was demonstrated by a team at a recent USAV National qualifier. For the purposes of this blog post it will be called the Popcorn Drill for the way the ball pops up in the air like popcorn in an old-fashioned air popper.
The Popcorn Drill is simple: Player A sets a ball down on the court. After a short wait, Player B runs forward like a matador charging a bull. She picks up the ball, runs a couple of steps then throws it up in the air. The process is repeated.
Good coaches know that effective drills focus on skills that transfer to match play. With that in mind, it is clear the Popcorn Drill must have been borrowed from the sport of hockey. The drill teaches game-like skills for situations when hockey players need to pick octopus, squid, fish, and hats from hat tricks and throw them up in the air to the crowd.
It is questionable if the Popcorn Drill teaches any skills that transfer to volleyball competition.
To the team’s credit, they were enthusiastic and disciplined and their fans loved them. They mastered the drill. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough and they ended up on the wrong side of the bracket.