For this drill, the one-up-one-back formation learns how to deal with both-up opponents – lobbing them and the possible situations that can arise from this tactic. 

Set-up:

The one-up-one-back team is positioned with A at the baseline and B at the net. On the other side, there is C and D both at the net. The coach (F) is outside the doubles alley on the same side as the net team; he feeds balls from the basket to begin the point. 

Drill:

The coach will begin the point by feeding a ball to player A; she will have to lob the first ball attempting to hit it over the net team. For this drill, the net team cannot move back until player A makes contact with the ball (variation: as the coach feeds the ball to A the net team should move up and touch the net). 

Once the lob is made, the teams play the point out. 

Tactical points to follow:

– if the lob is successful, player A should move up to the net too. 

– if the lob is short, player A should yell out to her partner to move back.

– player B, at the net, should try to keep her eyes on the team at the net only and avoid looking back to her partner; by doing this she could read (based on their body language) whether her partner’s lob is a deep one or her opponents prepare to attack her. 

Play first to win 7 points then rotate one spot clockwise so that every player experiences every positional situation.