Volleyball

Volleyball Practice Plan Template (Free PDF + Excel)

A volleyball practice plan template is a one-page session sheet with a start time for every block, one coaching focus per block, and the equipment it needs, built for the 90-minute shared-gym slot most club and school teams actually get. The template on this page comes as a printable PDF and an Excel sheet whose time column adds itself up, with the filled 90-minute session below it and a weekly grid for laying out the shared-gym week. Every block in the filled example is a module in the free volleyball practice planner, so the plan can be opened there, resized to your slot, and printed as a coach sheet without retyping it.

Volleyball practice session plan on a clipboard beside a ball cart at the edge of a school gym court

Download the Volleyball Practice Plan Template

ExcelDownload for Excel

Timed session sheet with a start-time column that calculates from the practice start and each block's minutes, a live total against your gym slot, a phase dropdown per row, a second tab with the filled 90-minute example, and a third tab with the weekly shared-gym grid.

PDFDownload the printable PDF

The blank session sheet on page one, the filled 90-minute example on page two, and the weekly grid on page three.

For Google Sheets, upload the Excel file to Drive and open it; the time formulas carry over.

What a Good Volleyball Practice Plan Looks Like

A good volleyball session plan runs from control to chaos: it starts with clean touches in a warmup and pepper, sharpens one position skill, then layers in the serve and receive battle, and finishes with 6v6 where everything has to work at once. The plan's job is to protect that progression inside a hard time limit, because volleyball coaches rarely own their gym. When your court time is 6:00 to 7:30 sharp and another team is waiting at the door, an untimed practice does not run long, it just loses its 6v6 block.

Two principles drive the template. First, maximize contacts: small groups, multiple balls, and waves instead of lines, because the team that takes the most quality touches per practice wins in October. Second, make serve and receive a daily block, not an occasional drill, since more youth matches are decided there than anywhere else. When you want the template's blocks pre-filled for a specific focus, our volleyball practice plans carry four complete sessions (serve receive, offense, defense, and pre-tournament) built on this exact frame.

The Filled Example: A 90-Minute Shared-Gym Session

The filled example is the standard 90-minute slot, control to chaos: dynamic warm-up, ball control and pepper, one position block, serve-receive waves, 6v6 with the focus scored, and a huddle before the next group takes the court. For a 75-minute slot, trim the position block and 6v6 by about a quarter and keep serve and receive intact.

Volleyball practice plan · 13-15 (13U-15U, middle school, JV)

Volleyball Practice Plan Template (90 Minutes, Shared Gym)

90 min · 6 segments

0:00
10 min
Dynamic Warm-Up
Dynamic movement lengths blended into partner ball touches so bodies and platforms warm up together.
Warm-Up
0:10
15 min
Ball Control and Pepper
Classic pepper built up in stages: pass-set, then controlled hit-dig-set, with movement variations to stay honest.
Warm-Up
0:25
20 min
Position Block: Today's Skill
High-rep triangle setting: pass in, setter squares to target, groups of three cycle so every player sets under motion.
Core
0:45
20 min
Serve-Receive Waves
Servers vs. passing waves of three with a target setter; groups rotate on scored passes so everyone serves and passes.
Core
1:05
20 min
6v6 Play
6-on-6 wash scoring: win the served rally and the free-ball rally to earn a point; losses wash and pressure stays high.
Core
1:25
5 min
Cooldown and Huddle
Coach-led closing circle: each athlete shares a win and a work-on, coach connects practice to the next competition.
Cooldown

Equipment: volleyballs, cones, resistance bands, ball cart, net, whiteboard, scoreboard or flip score

Change the length, swap modules for your age group, print a one-page coach sheet, and share it by link. No login.

Customize this plan free →Save to my account

Three details make this template work in a real gym. One focus per practice: serve receive out of system, or setter decision making, not both, and every block from pepper to 6v6 rewards the same skill. Waves, not lines: serve and receive in waves of three passers keeps every player inside a rotation of touches, and ten players watching two pass is the biggest hidden time cost in volleyball practice. Protect the 6v6 block: it is last, which means it is what gets cut when earlier blocks run long, and timed blocks exist to stop that. The four complete sessions on the volleyball practice plans page (serve-receive, offense, defense, and pre-tournament nights) all fill this same sheet.

Ready to take your game to the next level?

The Weekly Grid: Built for Shared Gym Time

Most volleyball teams share a gym with other teams and other sports, so the weekly grid does double duty: it tells families when practice is, and it survives the reality that your slot may be 7:30 PM on Tuesday and 5:30 PM on Thursday on half a court. Put the court assignment in the grid so nobody has to ask.

Day	Time	Location	Session focus
Monday	Off
Tuesday	7:30 to 9:00 PM	Main gym, court 2	Skill focus (session plan above)
Wednesday	Off		Optional serving reps if gym is open
Thursday	5:30 to 7:00 PM	Aux gym, half court	Serve and receive, small-group control work
Friday	Off
Saturday	Match or tournament	Per league schedule
Sunday	Off		Rest

A half-court Thursday is not a lost practice; it is the reason the template has a ball control block and serve and receive waves, both of which run fine on half a court. Save full 6v6 for your full-court night. For the sport-agnostic version of the session sheet and guidance on using the plan and grid together, see the main practice schedule template.

When to Stop Using the Template

The template stops being enough the week you want to run the same plan for a second team, attach it to a real practice on the calendar, or hand it to an assistant who was not in the planning conversation. That is what the free volleyball practice planner does without an account: the same blocks as the template, pulled from a curated volleyball module library with coaching points built in, timed automatically, printed as a one-page coach sheet, and shareable by link. Save a plan to a free Rizzler account and it lands in Practice Manager, attached to the practice event with RSVP counts, station assignments for assistants, and an equipment list assembled from the drills.

Publish the Real Schedule to Families

A shared-gym schedule changes constantly, and the weekly grid above is only as good as the last time every family saw it. That is the manual version of what a volleyball team app does automatically: publish practices and matches once in Rizzler, families see them in the app and sync them to their own calendars, players and parents RSVP so you know Tuesday whether you can run 6v6, and when your court time moves, the change reaches everyone instead of the half who caught the group text.

If your club holds evaluations before the season, see how programs run volleyball tryouts in Rizzler, and read the full guide to how to run a volleyball tryout for what to evaluate and how to score it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the volleyball practice plan template free?

Yes. Both files download directly from this page with no email or account. The Excel sheet is editable; the PDF is print-ready. The free volleyball practice planner that builds the same plans interactively is also free and needs no login.

What is the difference between a practice plan template and a practice schedule template?

A practice plan template is the session sheet for what happens inside one practice: timed blocks, a focus per block, equipment. A practice schedule template is the weekly grid of when practices happen and where. This page carries both, because a shared-gym volleyball team needs the two on the same clipboard; the sport-agnostic practice schedule template is the generic version of the grid.

How long should a volleyball practice be?

Ninety minutes is the standard for club and school teams, and it is usually set by your gym slot rather than by choice. For ages 12 and under, seventy five minutes is plenty. Inside whatever slot you have, keep the proportions of the template: about a quarter on warmup and ball control, a quarter on position work, and at least half on serve and receive and 6v6 play.

What should a volleyball practice plan include?

Six timed blocks: a dynamic warmup, ball control or pepper, one position skill block, serve and receive waves, 6v6 play, and a short huddle. Each block needs a start time and one coaching focus, and the whole session should serve one named focus. Serve and receive belongs in every practice, not just the week before a tournament.

How do you run practice with limited or shared gym time?

Plan to the minute and match blocks to the court you actually have. Half-court or shared nights are for ball control, position stations, and serve and receive waves, which all run in tight space; save 6v6 for full-court nights. Set up the net during arrival, start the warmup on time regardless of who is there, and put the court assignment in the published schedule so families are not guessing which gym.

How do I share the practice schedule with parents?

Publish it in a team app instead of a paper handout, because shared-gym schedules change too often for paper. Rizzler's schedule management puts every practice and match in front of families, collects RSVPs so you know who is coming, and pushes updates when a court or time changes.