Every 1st Rain of the season, we play...

Every 1st rain of the club season, we play VOLLIS!!!  ...and for so many reasons, but mostly for TOUGHNESS.

Vollis Rules (skip this section if you already know the rules of vollis)
Vollis (or 'vollice') is 1v1 - which means you have to cover the whole court by yourself.  Players only get 1 contact (a la tennis).  Contacts must be beach legal (no tips, hands must be clean, etc).  Serves all commence with the "Gentleman's Serve" (toss, bump it over from behind the serving line).

Vollis is a TOUGH game
The game of vollis is a measure of one's toughness:

• Are the player's covered head-to-toe in sand from DIVING? All volleyball rallies end from a mistake or gravity.  When it's gravity, players may see the opportunity to dive.  Or not.  It's worth noting that some players go half-half...they dive to their knees, but refuse to finish the dive to their stomach (as noted by a very clean shirt).  
• "There's no excuse for a good offensive player to not be a good defender" --John Wooden.  Only 1 player covers the entire court in vollis...
• Long Rallies produce heightened focus.  Most touches are bumps over the net, yielding lots of easy to medium balls to the opponent.  If you're receiving easy & medium balls, it becomes a battle of wills.
• Are the players attacking?  Are players just bumping it over (to base 2?  P. U.  mini-puke in my mouth)?  Or are they attacking corners & open spaces -- regardless of forearm touch or spike touch.

Vollis in the Rain
Beach makes you tougher for indoor b/c you feel freer (without sun, wind, sand to deal with).  Beach vb in the rain makes the ball heavy (hard to serve, breaks passing/digging platforms into chopsticks and is nearly impossible to hand set); the rain also gets in your eyes not to mention wet & sandy volleyballs sting the forearms on each touch.  

Beach vb inna Vollis stylee AND in the rain brings the game's tougness to new levels: we've removedyour only teammate and 2 of your team's contacts.  Now there's a million reasons to complain and give up and be a weenie.  

Montana diving for a ball!

Vollis Effect
The outcome of playing vollis for most of practice is that regular doubles volleyball becomes much easier: Players have greater control with their platforms (pass really well, can bumpset comfortably and can set on 2 relatively easily); players are also very aggressive with EVERY touch; not to mention players are ready to dive on any play.  ​

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Monty enjoying diving & getting sandy

The toughest players will develop a sense of pride and enjoyment when struggles hit.  These players grow really fast -- imagine a player that runs toward struggle (instead of avoiding it like the 98% of the human race).

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​Satelite Pics
​Take a look at today's radar --  2 weeks into club and it's time to let the vollis begin!

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Interaction from today's practice:
Coach: "Player X, what are you learning about playing vollis in the rain"
Player X: "it's like you gotta do what you normally do...but then you gotta pick it up a level too"