How to coach a volleyball game: a match-day checklist for coaches

Coaching a volleyball game is a different job from running practice. In practice you teach. During a game you make a handful of decisions, at the right moment, while your players do the work. This guide walks you through a match day in order: what to prepare, what to do during each set, and what to look at afterwards. You can use the checklist at the end for your next game.

New to coaching games? Start with three things: a written lineup, a plan for your two timeouts, and one or two focus points per set. The rest of this guide builds on that.

Before the game: set your lineup

Your starting lineup decides who serves first, where your setter starts and which rotations will be your strongest and weakest. Write it down the day before, not in the gym.

• Pick your starting rotation. Most coaches start with the setter in position I (right back), so the setter serves first and your strongest attacking rotations come early. If you start the set receiving, the player in position II serves first after you win the first side-out.
• Put your best server where it counts. The player in position I serves first when your team starts the set serving. A strong, steady server there gives you a good start.
• Spread your passers. Make sure every rotation has at least two reliable passers in serve receive. Our rotation and serve receive cheat sheet shows all six rotations for the 5-1, 6-2 and 4-2.
• Decide on your libero. Note who the libero replaces (usually the middle blockers in the back row), so the libero knows when to go in.
• Fill in your lineup sheet and lineup cards. In most competitions you hand in your starting lineup before every set, on a lineup card or slip. Our free printable volleyball lineup sheet has a sheet for the whole match plus lineup cards in A4 and US Letter.

Tip: plan a second lineup for when things go wrong, for example when your setter is sick or your best passer struggles. Having it on paper saves you a panicked timeout.

Before the game: plan your timeouts and subs

Under FIVB rules each team gets two timeouts and six regular substitutions per set. Many leagues, schools and youth competitions use different numbers, so check your own rules before the game.

Decide in advance:

1. When you will call a timeout. For example after three points in a row against you, or when the opponent reaches 20 and the set is close.
2. Which subs you plan. A serving sub for a weak server, a blocker in the front row, or playing time for younger players. Write them next to the lineup.
3. Who tracks what on the bench. An assistant or a substitute can keep the rotation, timeouts used and substitutions on the lineup sheet, so you can watch the game.

Before the game: warm-up and team talk

Arrive early enough to do your own warm-up before the official time at the net. A simple order that works for most teams:

Keep the team talk short. Give two or three focus points the players can actually do, such as “serve in” or “call every ball”. Not ten things, and not a speech about winning.

Looking for warm-up ideas? See our game-like drills and serve receive drills.

During the game: what to watch

You cannot fix everything during a game, so watch the few things that decide most rallies at your level:

• Serving: how many serves go in, and where the opponent struggles to pass.
• Serve receive: which passer and which rotation give away points.
• Your weakest rotation: most teams lose the most points in one or two rotations. Know which ones.
• Energy and communication: are players calling the ball and talking between rallies?

Keep a simple tally on paper: serve errors, aces against you and points lost per rotation. Five tally marks tell you more than your memory after a tense set.

During the game: how to use a timeout

A timeout is short (30 seconds under FIVB rules), and players remember one thing at most. Use this structure:

1. Calm down: let players breathe and drink for a few seconds.
2. One fact: say what is happening, for example “their number 7 serves short, and we are standing too deep”.
3. One job: give one clear action, for example “passers, two steps in” or “serve at zone 1”.
4. Send them back positive: end with something they did well or the score target.

Call a timeout to stop a run of points against you, to set up an important serve receive, or to give a nervous team a reset. Do not save both timeouts for the end of the set if the set is slipping away at 8-14.

During the game: substitutions

Substitutions let you change the game without stopping it. The basics under FIVB rules:

• A team has six regular substitutions per set.
• A starting player may leave the game and come back once per set, and only into their own spot in the lineup.
• A substitute may enter once per set, for one starting player, and can only be replaced by that same player.
• Libero replacements do not count as substitutions.

Youth, school and recreational leagues often allow more substitutions or other rules, so always check your own competition rules. Plan subs with a purpose: a better server, a taller blocker in the front row, a calm passer in a tough rotation, or fair playing time.

During the game: keep track of the rotation

Mistakes in the rotation cost easy points. When your team receives serve, players must be in the correct order at the moment of the serve: each front-row player in front of their back-row partner, and left and right in the right order. This is the overlap rule, and it only applies to the receiving team. If a player is in the wrong place, the referee calls a positional fault and the other team wins the point.

Ask someone on the bench to follow the rotation on your lineup sheet and to check that the right player serves. Our rotation cheat sheet shows a legal serve receive formation for every rotation.

Between sets

Use the break between sets (about three minutes under FIVB rules) for three things:

1. Hand in your lineup for the next set. You may change the starting rotation, for example to match your best rotation against their best server.
2. Give one or two points for the next set, based on your tally, not on emotion.
3. Check the numbers: timeouts and substitutions start again from zero every set.

After the game

Right after the game, emotions are high. Keep the talk short: one thing that went well, one thing to work on, and when the next practice is. Save the real analysis for later that evening or the next day.

Then turn the game into your next practice:

1. Look at your tally: which rotation, which skill and which situation cost the most points?
2. Pick one or two themes for the next practice, for example serve receive in rotation 4 or serving under pressure.
3. Choose drills that train exactly that theme in a game-like way.

This is where most coaches lose time. With VolleyballXL you pick drills from 1000+ video drills or a ready-made practice plan and build the session in minutes.

Match-day checklist

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