Hey everyone! I was wondering if anybody had any volleyball drills that are both beginner and advanced friendly?

Reason why I ask is because the open gym at my university is SUPER competitive and non-beginner friendly, which can be insanely intimidating for those who want to show up, have fun, and improve their overall game. By starting this club, my main goal is to not only open up a space for people to work on elevating their gameplay, but I also want to create a more positive atmosphere during open gyms because it’s gotten so competitive to the point where certain groups will kick people off their team if they see them as a liability, which has noticeably made the social environment a lot more cutthroat and less fun for a lot of people.

If anyone knows any good drills across all positions and aspects of the game that I can use during these club meetings for both beginners and advanced players, please share. I’m willing to buy things like pool noodles (to mimic a block) as well as other smaller pieces of equipment for this club, so if you have any recommendations, like I said, I would greatly appreciate recommendations!

Happened in the german championship yesterday on twitch.tv/spontent

I can get through a normal gym workout fine but a long open gym or tournament day is a whole different thing. One minute you feel good. Then your calves start acting weird and your legs feel cooked by set three. I started looking at electrolyte sticks that are more magnesium focused instead of the usual salt bomb or sugar packet. That angle makes sense to me for volleyball since cramps and recovery are half the battle on long days. Taste matters too. I’m not drinking something that feels like ocean water just because the label looks serious. Magna has been the one I keep seeing for that since it’s built around magnesium instead of loading up on salt and sugar.

Not saying it fixes my serve receive. Sadly that crime scene is still on me. But I do feel less wrecked after longer sessions. What do you use during tournaments or long gym days? Water only? Electrolyte powder? Coconut water or pickle juice like a menace?

Hello I am a 22 year old from Utah valley and I am wanting to know how I can pursue volleyball further. I played in highschool however at the time we didn’t have a men’s team, the highschool I went to got a men’s volleyball team the year after I graduated and the guys I played with won state. There’s not many adult men’s club volleyball and I’m lost on how I can pursue my love for volleyball further, I still play regularly but I miss the thrill and fun of playing against hard opponents and pushing myself to improve and I’m not sure what to do and thought I would maybe ask for help here, sorry if I talked in circles and thank you for reading and the help.

Quick disclaimer: English isn't my strongest language, so I use AI to help translate and polish my writing. Some expressions might sound a little weird or unnatural because of that, so sorry in advance! 😅

And if you enjoy this kind of "Haikyuu!! meets real Japanese high school volleyball" stuff, feel free to check out my other posts too!

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Hey Haikyuu fans! I'm a Japanese fan of both Haikyuu and real high school volleyball.

If you're reading Haikyuu, there's a good chance some parts of Japan's high school volleyball system might be a little confusing. In this series, I'll be breaking down how it all actually works, one topic at a time.

Topics I'm planning to cover in this series:

\- Why high schools invest in strengthening their volleyball programs

\- How players join the team

\- How teams are run and coached

\- What daily life looks like for a student-athlete

\- The major tournaments

\- How student-athletes are treated by their school and society

\- The harsh realities behind the scenes

\- What happens after graduation

In this post, I'll cover the topic: How players join the team.

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# How Players Join the Team

How students join a volleyball team depends heavily on whether the school is private or public.

# 🏫 Private Powerhouse Schools

Getting into the volleyball team at a private powerhouse school isn't as simple as just showing up. Most of these teams fill their roster through a recruitment system.

Scouts from the high school travel to regional and national tournaments for junior high school teams and club teams, looking for promising players. Sometimes it works through connections too — a junior high or club coach might have a relationship with a high school coach and personally recommend a standout player.

Here's an interesting detail: recruitment usually doesn't happen player-to-player. It goes through the coaches. The high school coach reaches out to the junior high coach directly to say, "we'd like to recruit this player." And if a middle schooler has a strong reputation, it's not unusual for multiple schools to be interested at once.

Here's the part that might surprise you: getting scouted doesn't automatically mean you're in. Even though it's mostly a formality at that point, the player still has to formally apply and go through a selection process.

Common application requirements include:

\- Having played volleyball (school team or club team) consistently throughout junior high

\- Tournament results (the required level — regional, prefectural, national — varies by school)

\- A clear intention to continue playing volleyball in high school

\- Meeting a minimum standard for grades and attendance

Once the application is accepted, the actual selection process begins — usually a combination of an academic test, an interview, and a skills evaluation. Some schools also require a written essay.

The skills evaluation isn't about flashy plays. It's mostly focused on the basics — can you consistently execute a solid pass or dig, can you follow instructions accurately.

The interview usually covers things like why the student chose that particular school and what they hope to accomplish there.

If you remember, Haikyuu actually shows this — there's a scene of Tendou going through an interview as part of his recruitment. Pretty much every player at a private powerhouse in the series — Itachiyama, Fukurodani, Shiratorizawa, Aoba Josai — likely went through this same process.

One thing worth noting: the bar for "promising" varies a lot from school to school. Some schools only recruit players with national tournament experience, while others are satisfied with a solid showing at the regional level.

Even among players who get recruited by multiple schools, the decision-making varies. Some choose a highly competitive powerhouse specifically because they want to compete at nationals, even if it means a brutal fight for a starting spot. Others deliberately choose a slightly less competitive school where they're more likely to actually get playing time.

More recently, some private schools have started recruiting even younger — by strengthening the volleyball program at their affiliated junior high school and scouting talented elementary schoolers directly into that pipeline. In the manga, Ushijima had already been enrolled at Shiratorizawa since junior high — it's likely the school's middle school volleyball program was already strong, and he was recruited into it as early as elementary school.

By the way, most private powerhouse schools actually run two separate volleyball teams — one made up entirely of recruited players, and a completely separate one for regular students who just want to play casually.

Recruited students are usually placed into a dedicated "sports recruitment" academic track, completely separate from students who got in through the standard entrance exam. Classes in this track tend to be a bit easier, or there are simply fewer of them (I'll go into more detail on this in a future post).

Private schools also often have dormitories, which means students from other prefectures can enroll too — so it's common for talented players to come from far away. Actually, that lines up with Suna in the manga — he plays for Inarizaki in Hyogo, but he's originally from Aichi, which is pretty far away. Ushijima and Tendou both lived in the dorms too, so it's possible neither of them is actually from Miyagi originally. The same could easily be true for players at Shiratorizawa, Nekoma, Inarizaki, or Itachiyama.

# 🏫 Public Powerhouse Schools

Public powerhouse schools work very differently. In most cases, all you need to get in is the standard high school entrance exam — the same one every other applicant takes.

Quick context: in Japan, most high schools (aside from private schools offering athletic recruitment) admit students purely based on passing an academic entrance exam. Public powerhouse schools are no exception — athletes take the exact same test as everyone else. That's because Japanese law actually prohibits public high schools from actively recruiting students for athletics.

That's why every member of Karasuno and Nekoma — both public schools — got in the same way: by passing the standard entrance exam.

So you might think, "wait, couldn't anyone just enroll and get on the team, even if they're not that good?" Not exactly.

Even without formal entry requirements, if a school has a strong local reputation, tons of volleyball hopefuls apply — which means the competition for a \*\*starting spot\*\* ends up being brutal. Back when Karasuno was still a strong program, Tsukishima's older brother reportedly couldn't even make the bench. Some public powerhouse teams even hold their own internal tryouts, or don't accept complete beginners at all.

Here's a bit of an open secret: even though official recruitment is banned, coaches at public powerhouse schools sometimes unofficially encourage promising local players to enroll at their school. It's effectively scouting, just not on paper. And in some cases, only the players a coach personally reached out to end up making the team.

Public powerhouse schools also don't have separate "sports courses" the way private schools do — athletes attend the exact same classes as everyone else. In Karasuno, Hinata and Kageyama sit through regular classes alongside students who aren't part of any competitive sports team at all.

One last thing: in Japan, public high schools can only admit students who are officially registered residents of that prefecture (through what's called a "juminhyo," basically an official residency record).That means the roster at a public powerhouse is made up almost entirely of local kids — everyone at Karasuno is from Miyagi, everyone at Nekoma is from Tokyo. In rare cases, a family will actually move their residency to a different prefecture just so their kid can attend a specific powerhouse school — but that's pretty unusual.　

Pretty much what the title says. I found a couple posts but they seem pretty old.

When I first started playing volleyball, I thought watching women's would be more entertaining since that's what the internet told me. However, now a year later, I find myself heavily preferring men's volleyball. Idk if it's my brainrotted attention span, but I find women's play to be super slow as opposed to the fast-pace and high energy of men's.

Any thoughts?

Hi! My name is Jayden and I have been playing consistent volleyball for about a 1.5 years. What are some tips and pointers to keep in mind when trying to produce as much power into my swing? I would love to see how much I can really translate my size into the output of my spike.

I am currently 19, 186 cm (6’1”) and 108 kg (238 lbs) and play a basic Men’s Division 3 in Sydney, Australia.

cue (my spiking form , my arm swing)

I'm number 11 and I feel as if I'm really underwhelming performance wise I feel as if I could be a much better player however I don't know exactly what to start on that's a small clip of me playing in a match as you can see it's very beginner however I just want to know some ways after looking at me if I have any bad habits or things I can improve on

Quick disclaimer: English isn't my strongest language, so I use AI to help translate and polish my writing. Some expressions might sound a little weird or unnatural because of that, so sorry in advance!

And if you enjoy this kind of "Haikyuu!! meets real Japanese high school volleyball" stuff, feel free to check out my other posts too!

---

Hey Haikyuu and volleyball fans!

Let's talk about this year's champions of Haruko, one of the biggest tournaments in Japanese high school volleyball: Higashiyama High School.

🏫 The Basics

Higashiyama is located in Kyoto and is one of Japan's elite volleyball programs, with 4 national championships under their belt. You might also recognize it as the alma mater of Ran Takahashi, one of the aces on Japan's national team.

The school has roughly 150 years of history, originally founded by a well-known Buddhist figure.

Here's a fun detail most people probably don't know: the campus sits right between two temples that are hundreds of years old and historically significant — making the whole surrounding area a genuinely important historical district. Students basically pass by major historical landmarks just commuting to school every day.

The school isn't just known for volleyball, either — table tennis, basketball, tennis, baseball, and soccer are all strong here too. Higashiyama is also considered one of the top elite boys' schools in Kyoto Prefecture, with a lot of students from the general academic track going on to prestigious universities.

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🎓 School Life

For students who came from far away to focus on sports or academics, there's a dormitory with private rooms, a large dining hall, and even a spacious communal bath. Many of the students in the Top Athlete Course, along with others who traveled from distant regions for their studies, end up living there together throughout their time at Higashiyama.

Students who come specifically for sports are placed in this Top Athlete Course, a special academic track. Compared to other courses, they have fewer classes per day — but in return, they're expected to deliver real results in their sport. As part of their specialized curriculum, they also study subjects essential for top athletes, like basic anatomy and physiology, stretching techniques, and mental training. To make sure they don't fall behind academically while focusing on sports, the school also provides extra support: biweekly Saturday classes, along with additional Saturday courses and supplementary lessons.

Regardless of which course they're in, though, one thing brings the whole school together: "Higashiyama Festival," held every September. Proudly billed as "the tradition of an all-boys festival," with the tagline "Built by us, for us, the event has first and second-years running event booths while third-years run food stalls, alongside club performances, exhibitions, and even a karaoke contest. No ticket required — students from other schools can attend too.

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🏐 About the Volleyball Team

Higashiyama made it back to nationals for the first time in 3 years — Kyoto is brutally competitive — and claimed their first national title since Takahashi's era, 6 years ago.

So what makes them so strong?

⚡ High-Speed 3D Volleyball

Higashiyama runs a traditionally fast, multi-dimensional offense — quicks, pipe attacks, and right-side attacks all woven together at high speed.

🛡️ Elite Defense

Backed by strong passing fundamentals, their defense refuses to let the ball drop, grinding out points even in tough rallies.

⭐ One of the Top 3 Aces

On top of all that, this year's roster includes one of Japan's top 3 high school aces — think Ushiwaka or Sakusa-tier talent, if you're thinking in Haikyuu terms.

His peak reach and spike power are genuinely pro-level, and he's being called "the next Ran Takahashi." He's been Higashiyama's ace since his 2nd year — the same year he led the team to a national title — and now, as both ace and captain, he's chasing back-to-back championships.

🗾 A Team Built From Everywhere Else

Here's a wild fact: almost the entire current roster is from other regions — specifically, places without strong volleyball scenes. These players left home at a young age just to compete at a higher level, and beyond classes and practice, they live together in the dorms too. That shared experience is a huge part of what makes this team click. Even the volleyball players get downtime — apparently it's not unusual for them to go catch a movie together on days off.

⚔️ The Rivalry With Rakunan

No Higashiyama story is complete without mentioning Rakunan High School, Kyoto's other national powerhouse, with multiple championships of its own.

Kyoto is so stacked that the Kyoto prefectural final is basically considered a second national final. Even Takahashi himself, during his 1st and 2nd years, was blocked from reaching nationals by Rakunan — coached by Tatsunori Otsuka, now a member of Japan's national team.

This year, since Kyoto hosted Inter-High, the prefecture got 2 slots instead of the usual 1 — meaning both Higashiyama and Rakunan qualified. The results: Higashiyama reached the final four, Rakunan the quarterfinals.

There's actually a true story where officials once proposed permanently giving Kyoto 2 slots at nationals — and both schools turned it down, saying they'd rather just beat each other for the one spot.

Because they play each other so often, both sides know each other's tendencies inside and out — which is exactly why their prefectural finals tend to turn into brutal, full-set battles almost every year.

Even recruiting is a battleground: Rakunan tends to win out on top local Kyoto talent, which is part of why Higashiyama has leaned into recruiting from farther afield instead.

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If there are any schools you'd like me to introduce, please let me know in the comments.

We are organizing a **Volleyball friendly match** and are looking for a competitive team interested in participating.
• **No entry fee**
• **Cash prize of PKR 20,000** for the winning team
• Friendly and competitive match
If you know of any suitable team that would be interested, please share their contact details.

Seeing these women celebrate and cry after their win tonight at the NORCECA Qualifications made me tear up on my couch!! They have worked so hard this summer, it's unbelievable. So many firsts and historic moments.

First VNL finals for the team, being undefeated against the USA, first time in NORCECA finals since 1989, winning NORCECA for the first time, and now... first olympic qualification since 1996!!! This is so major.

I can't wait to see the impact this will have on Canadian volleyball at large!

HUGE shoutout to Thokbuom, Van Ryk, Guezen, Jost, Maglio, Fransen, Gray!! What a joy to see them grow together throughout the summer, wow, wow, wow!

hey everybody, so I tried to choose a clip of my average hit that’s not a highlight nor a lowlight. Does anybody have any form tips for me? I’m trying to improve my attack and am open to anything, even the most nitpickiest of things. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I was wondering what the difference between my schools 5-1 rotation and the 5-1 rotation I see online is.

------NET(starting position)------

OH1 | MB | S

OPP | L | OH2

This is the rotation my school runs,

but the traditional 5-1 is

-----NET(starting position)-----

OPP | MB | OH1

OH2 | L | S

Could I know the pros and cons of my schools rotation? Also I don'

t get why no other teams use it.

Context: Jake Hanes was yelling at the referee for like a solid 5 minutes and wouldn’t let it go lol in this clip he’s staring down the ref upset (no one could calm him down) about the call while Brizard missed his serve and responded 😅

New to volleyball. We love it now. We are a soccer family. Last year daughter played rec Vball, struggled for a season, but improved amazingly after. Even got bumped to high school league for 2 seasons because she improved. So we decided to let her continue.

Fast forward to this year (2026 fall), she makes the 8th grader played first team (competitive), 11 girls on team.

First game the other night. She gets maybe 1/4 playing time as others (travel or legacy girls), but we noticed 2 players on the 7th grade team and 2 players on the 8th grade team never stepped on the court.

Is this normal for 2 not to play? We thought it was odd that for each team 2 did not play. Can you only have so many rostered? Coach did acknowledge not equal play time, we ok with that, but to really sit 2? We went to varsity game, they had 13, every one played. And it’s ranked team in our state high school class 3A.