I may sound a little bit crazy, but I absolutely love practicing my volleyball skills and developing new ones.

Nothing makes me happier than being with my teammates, on the court, and practicing my jumps, blocking, serving, spiking, passing, bumping, and even conditioning.

This is where I get pumped up and jazzed about playing. It's at these practice times where my team bonds together and we push each other beyond our limits. It's also where we can see where your own skills may be lacking on one area or another.

I used to think about these areas and think that there are other people on my team who excel in my weaknesses, so why should I have to practice and bust my butt to improve.

To Win. Win. Win.

Very simply the idea of transforming my team into a an unstoppable juggernaut where there are no weaknesses in any area of the court.

So how do I enhance my game, build upon my weaknesses and elevate my team? I practice by myself!

No It's Not An Oxymoron

How do I practice by myself? It's really a lot easier than you may think. I've created three great drills that I've used to help me in my weaker areas.

Timed Marksmanship

This is how I get the blood pumping. It's great for conditioning and for placing my serves right where I want them.

On one side of the court make 5-6 "x"'s on the floor with duct tape at various places. These are your targets. Then set a clock for 5 minutes and set up to serve on the other side.

You then practice serving and aiming for an "x". If you hit it grab another ball and go for another. But, if you miss you must run over, retrieve the ball, and try again until you hit it the "x".

The goal is to hit all the "x"'s on the other side within the time limit. It's a gut buster and really helps with your concentration, conditioning, and serves. Both in power and accuracy.

Set Me Up Again and Again

This is where you actually set up spikes to yourself. Another great conditioning drill but also gives great accuracy in your sets.

Again, put several "x"'s on the floor in random places. Then simply throw a ball up in the air where you're standing and simply "set" the ball towards another "x". Quickly run to it and "set" it again towards another "x".

Repeat this for several minutes. You won't believe how this will immediately increase the accuracy, and timing of your sets and ultimately get your team delivering great killer spikes!

Defending Myself

One of the areas, while I wasn't bad, I wasn't up to the level as my teammates was my defensive dig.

So I knew that I needed to both fix my reaction times and my ability to dive for the ball. I then created this drill to work on it and now I prowl the middle court like a lion looking for fresh meat!

Very simply I defend myself. It took me awhile to get use to doing this, but once I got a handle on it, I didn't have any more problems.

Throw the ball up in the air and bump it on the way down. Now, all you need to do for a set period of time is continue to dive, dig, or bump the ball again wherever it comes down.

Like I mentioned, this drill will dramatically increase your reaction times and ability to relentlessly pursue the ball.

Once you become accustomed to the drill you can make it even more demanding my controlling where you actually bump it to.

Work On Your Weaknesses And Your Team Will Be Unstoppable

When my teammates and I began working on self practice techniques on a regular basis we became an even stronger force, both as a team and personally.

Do you have any weak areas? Try these practice drills to further enhance your volleyball game and create the "unstoppable" team.

Volleyball player Hayley Merrett has completed a brand new ebook that contains even more "self practice" techniques, and tactics to instantly improve your volleyball game by your next match! Check out the information by going to http://WinningVolleyballSkills.com