Six Spots, Six Questions1. Tape a question card to the floor at each of the six court positions, such as "Who taught you to serve?" and "Which skill do you want by the end of the season?"2. Six players stand on the six spots. Each reads the card at their feet and answers it to the player beside them.3. On the whistle, everyone rotates one spot clockwise, as a team does when it wins the serve back, and answers the new card to a new neighbor.4. Stop after six rotations, when everyone has answered all six. Extra players wait behind the serving spot and rotate in.Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: six question cards and tape. Debrief: Which answer do you want to ask more about?
The First Ball I Ever Hit1. Sit in a circle in the locker room or the team room. 2. The first player says where they first played volleyball and who was there: a driveway, a gym class, a beach, an older cousin. 3. The next player repeats that place in a few words, then tells their own. 4. Go around once. Players who started this season say what made them sign up. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: nothing. Debrief: Whose start in the sport was most like yours?
One Thing in Common per Stretch1. Sit in the stretching circle as usual. The coach names two players who do not usually partner up. 2. For the length of one stretch, the two talk across the circle to find one thing they share that is not volleyball. 3. They say it to the team, and the coach names the next two for the next stretch. 4. Keep a list of who has been named. Carry on at the next practice until every player has had a turn. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: nothing. Debrief: Which shared thing did nobody on the team know about?
One Word on the Team Ball1. Pass one practice ball and a permanent marker around the circle. 2. Each player signs the ball and adds one word for what they bring to this team, such as "loud", "steady" or "scrappy". 3. The player reads the word aloud and passes the ball on. Nobody comments. 4. The ball goes back in the cart and is used all season. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a practice ball and a permanent marker. Debrief: Which word does the team need most on a bad day?
Show all 30 games (27 more)
Get-to-know-you rounds, continued
Pick a Side of the Net1. Everyone stands under the net. The coach calls a choice and points to a side for each half of it: serving or passing, mornings or nights, front row or back row. 2. Players duck to the side they choose. 3. Each finds one person on the same side and gives a reason in one sentence. 4. Call eight choices. Make the last one about this season, such as "a long rally" or "a quick point". Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 5 min. Needs: nothing (the net is already up). Debrief: Who chose your side more often than you expected?
Serve a Question1. Partners stand on opposite sides of the net, close enough for an easy underhand serve. 2. The server calls out a question, such as "Indoor or beach?" or "Who was your first coach?", and serves. 3. The partner catches or passes the ball, answers loudly enough to be heard across the net, then asks a question of their own and serves it back. 4. Stop after ten serves each. Each player tells the team one thing they learned about their partner. Where: on the court. Group: 4 or more, in pairs. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball for each pair and a net. Debrief: What did you learn that you would not have asked in the locker room?
Six Spots, Six Questions1. Tape a question card to the floor at each of the six court positions, such as "Who taught you to serve?" and "Which skill do you want by the end of the season?" 2. Six players stand on the six spots. Each reads the card at their feet and answers it to the player beside them. 3. On the whistle, everyone rotates one spot clockwise, as a team does when it wins the serve back, and answers the new card to a new neighbor. 4. Stop after six rotations, when everyone has answered all six. Extra players wait behind the serving spot and rotate in. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: six question cards and tape. Debrief: Which answer do you want to ask more about?
The Teach and Learn Wall1. Each player writes two sticky notes with their name on: a skill they could show a teammate, and a skill they want help with. 2. Stick the notes on a wall in two columns. 3. Players walk the wall and move each "want help" note next to a "could show" note that matches it. 4. Every matched pair gets five minutes together at the start of the next practice. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 15 min. Needs: sticky notes and pens. Debrief: Which match on the wall surprised you?
Communication games 8
The Bench Calls the Lines1. Play a scrimmage. The players who are off the court spread out along the two sidelines and the end lines. 2. They call "in" or "out" on every ball that lands near their line, at once and loudly. A ball that touches the line is in. 3. The players on the court do not call lines at all, and they accept every call. 4. Swap the bench and the court every five points. Where: on the court. Group: 8 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball and a net. Debrief: How did it feel to hand the line calls to someone else?
Describe the Lineup, Back to Back1. Pairs sit back to back. One has a card showing a court with six initials on the six spots. The other has a blank court and a pencil. 2. The describer says where each of the six stands, using only words such as front, back, left, right and middle. 3. The drawer may ask questions. 4. Compare the two courts, then swap roles with a new card. Where: off the court. Group: 4 or more, in pairs. Time: about 10 min. Needs: lineup cards, blank paper and pencils. Debrief: Which word meant something different to each of you?
Every Sub Carries a Message1. Play a scrimmage with a substitution after every three points. 2. The player coming on brings one useful thing seen from the bench, such as "their setter tips on the second touch", and says it to the team before the serve. 3. The player going off tells the bench one thing they saw on the court. 4. At the end, the team names the message that changed a rally. Where: on the court. Group: 8 or more. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a ball and a net. Debrief: What can the bench see that the court cannot?
Four Signals Behind the Back1. Split into two groups. Each invents four hand signals, shown behind the back, for four plans: serve short, serve deep, serve left, serve right. 2. A front-row player shows a signal to the server behind them. The server says "got it" and serves to that part of the court. 3. The other group watches from behind and tries to work out the code. 4. After ten serves, the watchers say what they think each signal means. Then the groups swap. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 15 min. Needs: balls and a net. Debrief: What made a signal easy to read from behind?
One Voice a Side1. Play three against three or six against six with an underhand serve. 2. Before each rally, the coach names one player on each side. Only that player may speak, and has to call every ball for the team. 3. Everyone else plays in silence. If anyone else speaks, the rally goes to the other side. 4. Change the voice after every rally until everyone has had a turn. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball and a net. Debrief: What did the one voice have to say before you trusted it?
Three New Words for Mine, Help and Out1. In two minutes, the team agrees on three new words to stand for "mine", "help" and "out". Any clean words will do, such as the names of fruit. 2. Play a short game to seven points using only the new words. 3. A rally in which someone uses one of the old words is played again. 4. Play a second game with the usual words, and listen for the difference. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball and a net. Debrief: Did you call more balls or fewer when the words were new?
Timeout in Thirty Seconds1. The coach reads a situation from a card, such as "We are two points down and their best server is up". 2. The team huddles for thirty seconds. A player named by the coach speaks first. 3. The huddle has to end with one plan in one sentence, said by everyone together, and one clap. 4. Read a new card and name a different first speaker. Run five cards. Where: on or off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: five situation cards. Debrief: Which huddle ended with a plan everyone could repeat?
Who Takes the Ball Between Us1. Draw the line of passers on a whiteboard, one circle for each passer with a name in it. 2. Each pair of neighbors agrees on a rule for the ball that drops between them, such as "short is mine, deep is yours". 3. Each pair says its rule to the whole team, and the coach writes it between the two circles. 4. Keep the board. Try the rules at the next practice and change the ones that do not work. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a whiteboard and a marker. Debrief: Which rule was hardest to agree on?
Trust and support 7
Bag Check Buddies1. Before the first tournament, write the team packing list together on a card: both jerseys, kneepads, court shoes, a water bottle, a snack. 2. Pair every player with a buddy. A new player goes with a returning one. 3. At the last practice before the trip, buddies check each other's bag against the card. 4. On tournament morning, each player's first job is to find their buddy. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a packing list card for each pair. Debrief: What would you have forgotten without the list?
Call Your Own Net Touch1. Play a scrimmage with no referee. 2. Any player who touches the net, or hits the ball twice in a row, raises a hand and says so, and the rally goes to the other side. 3. Nobody may call a fault on anyone else. 4. When a player calls a fault on themselves, both sides clap once before the next serve. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball and a net. Debrief: What does it do for a team when players own up first?
I Count on You For1. Stand or sit in a circle after practice. 2. Each player turns to the player on their right and finishes the sentence "On the court I count on you for" with one exact thing, such as "calling the ball between us early". 3. The player who hears it says only "thank you". 4. Go around the circle once. At the next practice, go around to the left. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 5 min. Needs: nothing. Debrief: What did you hear that you did not know anyone had noticed?
Point to the Passer1. Play a scrimmage with normal scoring. 2. After every point a team wins, the player who scored it points to the teammate whose pass or set made it possible and says their name. 3. The point goes on the board only when that has happened. 4. After the game, each side names its pass of the day. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball and a net. Debrief: Who was pointed to most, and did you expect it?
The Reset Word1. The team picks one short word or gesture that means "that ball is over, on to the next one". 2. Play a scrimmage. After any error, the nearest teammate says the reset word to the player who made it. 3. The serve waits until the word has been said. No reset, no serve. 4. After the game, the team votes to keep the word for the season or to change it. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball and a net. Debrief: How long did an error stay with you once someone had said the word?
Trust the Out Call1. Mark a line with tape. A passer stands in front of it, and a partner stands behind it as the caller. 2. A third player tosses balls that drop near the line. 3. The caller says "in" or "out" early, and the passer has to obey: play the ball or let it drop. 4. Look where each ball landed. After ten balls, rotate the three jobs. Where: on the court. Group: 3 or more, in threes. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball for each three and tape. Debrief: How hard was it to let a ball drop on someone else's word?
What Helps Me After a Missed Ball1. Each player writes on a card what helps most after an error: a high five, a quick word, a joke, or being left alone for one rally. 2. Collect the cards and read them out without names. 3. The team guesses whose card each one is, and the writer may say so or keep quiet. 4. The coach keeps the cards in the ball bag for the season. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: cards and pens. Debrief: What did you learn about the teammate who plays beside you?
Whole-team challenges 8
A One-Minute Lesson for the Youngest Team1. In groups of three, pick one skill a beginner finds hard, such as the toss for a serve. 2. Plan a lesson of one minute with three jobs: one player explains, one shows the skill, one watches the clock. 3. Each group teaches its lesson to the rest of the team, who play beginners and may ask one question. 4. The team votes for the lesson it would use with the club's youngest players. Where: on or off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a ball for each group. Debrief: What did you have to leave out to fit one minute?
Alphabet Keep-Up1. Stand in a circle with one ball. Work out the order of the team's first names from A to Z. 2. Keep the ball in the air with passes and sets. It has to go from player to player in that order, and back to the first name after the last. 3. Count each time the ball gets all the way through the names. 4. After each drop, the team may change where people stand in the circle. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a ball. Debrief: Which change to the circle helped most?
Every Ball Home in Three Touches1. Line up the loose balls along one sideline, off the court. Stand the ball cart in the far corner with one player beside it as the catcher. 2. A feeder tosses one ball at a time into the court. It goes home only if three different players touch it before the catcher catches it. 3. Count the balls in the cart after three minutes. 4. Change the feeder and the catcher, and try to beat the count. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: the ball cart and its balls. Debrief: Who did the job nobody else was doing?
How Would You Beat Us?1. Split into groups of three or four. Each group plays the coach of next week's opponent. 2. In five minutes, the group writes three things it would tell its players to do against this team, such as "serve between the two passers on the left". 3. Each group reads its list. The team circles whatever came up more than once. 4. The team picks one circled thing to work on this week, and the coach builds it into practice. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 15 min. Needs: paper and pens. Debrief: Was it easier to see the team's habits from the other side of the net?
Tournament Day on One Page1. Give the team a blank page with the tournament's start time at the top. 2. In groups, plan one part each: what the team packs, where it sits between matches, the order of the warm-up, what to do in a long break. 3. Each group reports in one minute, and the team fits the parts onto the one page. 4. The coach copies the page for every player. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 20 min. Needs: paper and pens. Debrief: What did the plan need that only one person thought of?
Towel Pairs Over the Net1. Each pair holds a bath towel stretched between them. Put half the pairs on each side of the net. 2. A pair launches the ball off its towel and over the net. A pair on the far side catches it in a towel. 3. The two sides are one team. Count the catches in a row out loud. 4. After a drop, the team gets thirty seconds to talk, then starts again and tries to beat its count. Where: on the court. Group: 8 or more, in pairs. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a bath towel for each pair, one ball and a net. Debrief: What did your pair have to agree on without speaking?
Two Balls, One Circle1. Stand in a circle. Start one lightweight ball and keep it in the air with passes and sets. 2. When the team reaches ten touches, the coach tosses in a second ball. 3. Time how long both balls stay up. 4. Between tries, the team has one minute to make a plan: who calls, who takes the middle, what to do when both balls come to one player. Where: on the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: two lightweight balls or beach balls. Debrief: Which part of the plan did the team keep?
Where Will We Be in Three Rotations?1. Draw a court on a whiteboard and write a starting six on the six spots. 2. In groups of three, work out on paper where each player will stand after the team has won the serve back three times. Players move one spot clockwise each time. 3. Each group also names who will be serving then. 4. Check the answers on the board by moving the six names around the court, one rotation at a time. Where: off the court. Group: 6 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a whiteboard, paper and pencils. Debrief: Who explained it in a way the whole group could follow?
How this list was compiled: An original list of October 2026: 30 team building games for a volleyball team, in four types (get-to-know-you rounds, communication games, trust and support, whole-team challenges), 19 for the court and 13 for the locker room, a team meeting or the week before a tournament. Nothing was copied from another list, and each entry is one way to run its game, not a rule book. Group sizes and minutes are rough figures for planning, and no result of team building is claimed. This site's own rule holds for every card: nobody is lifted, caught, carried, held or blindfolded, there are no laps, push-ups or other forfeits for losing, nothing works as an initiation or singles out new players, serves in a game are underhand unless the coach says otherwise, anyone may pass on a question, and an adult runs and watches every game. That rule is this site's own and not a review by an expert. Five points of the sport that the cards lean on were checked on 2026-10-14 at Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball: a team has six players on the court; players rotate one position clockwise when their team wins the serve back; a ball that touches a sideline or an end line is in; touching the net during play is a fault; and so is one player hitting the ball twice in a row. Licence: own work
How it works
These volleyball team building games are for a coach or a captain with part of a practice to fill: get-to-know-you rounds, talking games with a ball in play, trust games and whole-team challenges. Nobody runs laps for losing.
Read the full guide
Fun volleyball team building games for the first week
Start with a get-to-know-you round. Six Spots, Six Questions tapes a question to each court position, and Serve a Question sends one over the net with every serve. One of each type deals a whole session: a get-to-know-you round, a communication game, a trust game and a whole-team challenge.
Off the court, for the locker room or a team meeting
13 of the 30 are played off the court. The First Ball I Ever Hit and I Count on You For need nothing at all, The Teach and Learn Wall needs sticky notes, and Bag Check Buddies is for the week before a tournament.
The Reset Word and What Helps Me After a Missed Ball belong in the same week: both are about the rally after an error.
Questions and answers
What are fun team building games for volleyball practice?
Towel Pairs Over the Net, Two Balls, One Circle and Three New Words for Mine, Help and Out are the playful ones, about ten minutes each on the court. The first needs a bath towel for each pair, the second two lightweight balls.
Which volleyball team building games work off the court?
13 of the 30, such as Who Takes the Ball Between Us, How Would You Beat Us? and Tournament Day on One Page. Choose Off the court under the button to deal only those.
What volleyball games build communication?
The eight communication games. One Voice a Side lets a single player call every ball, The Bench Calls the Lines hands the line calls to the players off the court, and Every Sub Carries a Message has each substitute report what the bench saw.
How many players do these volleyball team building games need?
Most are written for six or more, the number a team has on the court. Serve a Question and Describe the Lineup, Back to Back run in pairs, and Trust the Out Call in threes. The Group line on each card gives the smallest number.