Volleyball: Fading Self-Passes and Closing Breathwork

A cool-down after a volleyball lesson: each student plays individual overhead and forearm self-passes, gradually lowering the ball height, then stretches forearms, shoulders and calves and finishes with diaphragmatic breathing. It ends with students recording their rating of perceived exertion for the session.

How to play

1. Individual overhead self-passes at head height, then lower, until just bouncing the ball off the hand (2 min).
2. Forearm self-passes alternating hands with very little height while walking slowly (1 min).
3. Gentle stretches for forearms, wrists, shoulders and calves, 20 seconds each (3 min).
4. Lying on a mat, diaphragmatic breathing with the ball on the belly, feeling it rise and fall (1 min).
5. Write on the sheet the session's Borg rating and the skill that improved most (1 min).

Rules

• Each student stays in their own space of about 6 feet.
• Stretches are done without bouncing or pain.
• Silence during the final breathing.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair user: does the self-passes seated and the upper-body stretches in the chair.
• Autism: the same sequence is kept every lesson for predictability.
• Wrist injury: replaces self-passes with gentle bounces using the uninjured hand.

Learning goals

• Gradually lower heart rate after exercise.
• Stretch the muscle groups most used in volleyball.
• Self-assess perceived load and technical learning in the session.

Equipment for a class of 25

• volleyballs: 28
• mats: 28
• worksheets: 28

Teacher tip

Collect the Borg sheets to track the actual load of your volleyball lessons across the unit.

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