The Following Exercise May Seem Simplistic, and It Very Well May Be for a Handful of Athletes

‘T’ Square Quickness & Reaction Drill

By Barry Lovelace Creator of Training for Volleyball

The following exercise may seem simplistic, and it very well may be for a handful of athletes. But when one is challenged both physically and neurologically, even the most simplistic exercise can leave us a little behind the eight ball. Meaning: Not very quick to react.

When challenging athletes, whether they are club, high school, college or professional level players, it is important to challenge them neurologically and physically at the same time to improve their quickness and reaction on the court or field of play.

What I really am saying is: In order for athletes to react quickly, not only must their bodies be prepared to react, but their minds need to be prepared to react as well. In other words, they need to process what they need to do (for example, dig to get a ball) and then do it. If the processing is slow then the movement is delayed no matter how prepared the body is. Make sense?

One way to help improve the overall athletic ability of athletes is the ‘T’ Square Quickness & Reaction Drill. Again, this may seem very simplistic to some; but once you see them go through this drill you will be amazed at how top level athletes struggle at first, which is all good. This means they can only improve.

Barry Lovelace is the creator of the hottest selling volleyball training DVD, Training for Volleyball that has athletes all over the world increasing vertical jump after just a few workouts. www.traininforvolleyball.com ‘T’ Square Quickness & Reaction Drill

Check out the video below of the Freedom High School Boys (one of the girls is working out as well) Volleyball Team in action.

‘ T’ Square Drill – Freedom High School

Now that you have seen some great athletes performing this fun drill let’s move onto the logistics of the ‘T’ Square Drill.

Each athlete starts in his or her own ‘T’ Square as you see here:

How to Make the ‘T’?

Simply use masking tape to create the ‘T’ Square. You can choose to create the entire square with masking tape or take advantage of the lines already on your gym floor (and save waste ) and set a line perpendicular across the lines already there. Set these lines approximately 4’ apart from each other. The square is approximately 3’ x 3’. This is plenty of room for the athletes to move around.

Example here:

Gym Floor Line

Masking Tape 3’

Verbally provide numbers / letters / colors for each square to the athletes. We start out with numbers as you see below.

All athletes start in Box 1.

The coach will stand behind the athletes and call out the numbers. The first time this is performed call out the numbers in slow cadence and in order and go through three times. So it will sound like this: TWO! – pause – THREE! – pause – FOUR!- pause – ONE! & repeat two more times through. Three times around will help ‘stick’ in their minds.

Now they are ready. The coach will pick up the pace and stagger the numbers, but do not go to quick right away. Pick up the pace each ‘set’. Perform each ‘set’ for approximately 30 seconds to 45 seconds.

The following are several ways to change it up and add progressions to the drill.

 Change the way the numbers are in the box. Here are a few samples:

3 1 1 4

2 4 3 2

 Add colors to the mix Example Below:

Blue 3

 Change to all colors or verbal command (next suggestion) of your choice  Call out a command other than what commands are in the ‘T’. Example: Call out ‘5’ for Squat Jumps or ‘Patriots’ (your team name) to turn left quickly and return to forward position

There is your ‘T’ Square Quickness & Reaction Drill. Please use good judgment with the quickness of your commands and be creative when you challenge your athletes both mentally and physically.

Good Luck!

Barry Lovelace is the creator of the hottest selling volleyball training DVD, Training for Volleyball that has athletes all over the world increasing vertical jump after just a few workouts. www.traininforvolleyball.com