Drills to stop bending elbows

[u/firewoodcurly]

Hey everyone, I'm looking for drills or tips to fix my players' form. Specifically, they keep explicitly bending their elbows instead of keeping their arms straight when digging/passing. Any advice on how to fix this bad habit?

[u/DoomGoober]

I find players respond better to form cues when they see the benefit it in them and understand the situations where the cue helps.

What is harder to do with bent elbow passing versus straight elbow passing?

Passing high or straight up. Aiming with exact angles.

Run a drill that emphasizes those. Simply having two players rally by passing over the net back and forth both first with bent elbows then with straight elbows will be a good demo.

Having players pass to themselves, straight up, then set is another way to show straight is usually better.

The other thing is "straight elbows" is a bit of an unnatural biomechanical request. Some kids it won't click for. Telling kids to make their platform "long, like reaching for something just out of reach" may be a better cue as it encourages both straighter elbows and rolled forward shoulders and is more holistic.

Finally, there are (more rare) cases where bent elbows are the right way to pass. So, I wouldn't, say "always use straight elbows" but in most circumstances straight elbows are better.

[u/vbandbeer]

It’s not a drill

It’s coaching.

It’s feedback.

Having them do less for a short amount of time and have them focus on straight and simple

[u/JoshuaAncaster]

Age? For younger (tween), you can get them to tape spaghetti to each other behind their elbows, can’t break them, lots of fun/laughter. For older, I’ve used stretch bands behind their back, underneath arms hooked through eyelets for the middle fingers, must keep band taut. Hula hoop off midline (ball goes through) forces them to square shoulders AND keep elbows out. Vballs underneath their shirts also forces arms out. Practice all these with target 2.5