Driven, Clipped, Whipped

Master three ways of moving the ball 30 yards — the driven ball into feet, the clipped ball over a block, the whipped ball bent around it — and learn which picture demands which technique. The receiver's first touch is the scoreboard.

Mark three serving stations down one side of a 44x36 yard area, 15 yards apart, each with a stack of balls. Place two mannequins mid-grid as the 'block'. On the far side, mark a 10-yard receiving zone with two target wingers in it. Spare players queue behind the stations.

1. Station 1 hits a DRIVEN ball — flat, hard, below head height — into the winger's feet past the mannequin.
2. The winger kills it, returns a ground pass to Station 2, and the next service is CLIPPED — lofted over the mannequin to drop in the zone.
3. Station 3 then WHIPS one — bent around the outside of the mannequin with pace and curl.
4. Grade each serve by the touch it allows: ball controlled in the zone with one touch = 2, two touches = 1, leaves the zone = 0.
5. After each set of three serves, servers rotate one station along; swap servers and receivers every 10 serves. First server to 12 points.

• Driven: lock the ankle, strike through the middle, no backspin.
• Clipped: stab under the ball with a short follow-through — height then drop.
• Whipped: across the ball with the instep, bend it away from the block.
• Receivers: take the first touch out of your feet, ready to attack.

• Every serve comes out the same medium height because the striking technique doesn't change — isolate each strike for five reps before mixing them.
• The driven ball is leaned back into a floaty chip — keep the head down and over the ball at contact.
• Receivers wait flat-footed and let good serves bounce out of the zone — demand they adjust their feet while the ball travels.

• Make the receiver attack a 1v1 cone gate after the touch, so the serve must arrive attack-ready.
• Call the technique a heartbeat before the serve so servers adjust late.
• Replace mannequins with a live defender who can intercept lazy serves.

• Shorten the serves to 20 yards.
• Remove the mannequins and groove the three strikes without a block.
• Let receivers control with unlimited touches while serves improve.

• Serves must beat the mannequin block in the named way — flat past, over, or around.
• The receiver's touch grades the serve; a serve they can't control scores zero.