More Than Just Lifting
Most volleyball programs train volleyball skills. What they don't train is the physical foundation that makes those skills possible — and that gap shows up on the court whether parents see it or not. That's what this program is built to address.
The core goal is not to throw heavy weights at young athletes. It's to teach them how to move, control their body, and build a foundation that can grow with them for years. Athletes who train this way jump higher, move faster, stay healthier, and compete with more confidence — because their body can actually do what their coach is asking of it.
This is not volleyball skills training — we're not coaching swings, serves, or passing technique. We're training the physical building blocks of athleticism so that everything their volleyball coach teaches them transfers better into the game.
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Teaching the Body How to Move
Before we build power or work on volleyball-specific movements, every athlete starts with the foundation — regardless of age or experience. Most young athletes have never been taught how to move correctly. They've played sports, but nobody has coached them through a proper squat, a solid landing, or how to brace under load. These gaps create bad habits that limit performance and lead to injury down the road.
The foundation layer focuses on four things, and all four are built into every session:
Core Movement Patterns
Squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, and bracing. These are the fundamental movement patterns every athlete needs — and most have never been formally taught. Getting these right unlocks everything else.
Single-Leg Strength & Knee Stability
Running, cutting, landing, and jumping all happen one leg at a time. Weak single-leg control is one of the biggest contributors to knee injuries in young female athletes. We address it directly, early, and consistently.
Tendon & Connective Tissue Strength
Tendons and connective tissue adapt more slowly than muscle. Isometric holds — controlled positions under tension — build this tissue specifically, improving joint stability and keeping athletes on the court all season.
Enjoyment & Buy-In
Kids should leave sessions feeling capable and confident — not beaten down. Training that feels like punishment creates resistance, not progress. When athletes enjoy the process, they show up consistently, and consistency is what actually drives long-term development.
Training What Shows Up in a Match
Once the foundation is solid, training shifts toward the specific physical qualities volleyball actually demands. This layer connects the gym work directly to what happens on the court — not in a vague way, but in very specific, measurable ways.
A few examples of what this looks like in practice:
- Lower body power development — the legs are the engine behind every explosive action in volleyball. We train hip drive, triple extension, and vertical force production through progressions like trap bar deadlifts, jump variations, and loaded hinge patterns. The goal is to build legs that produce real power — the kind that adds inches to a jump and keeps an athlete competing at full intensity in the fifth set.
- Rotational power — hitting, serving, and defensive diving all require the body to generate and transfer force through rotation. We train this through anti-rotation core work first — teaching the body to resist and control rotation before producing it — then progress into medicine ball throws, rotational press variations, and hip-to-shoulder sequencing. Athletes who can't rotate efficiently leave power on the table on every swing.
- Elastic ankle stiffness — reactive drills that improve how fast an athlete can jump for a block or redirect on a dig. Stiff, springy ankles mean faster ground contact and more explosive power off the floor.
- Lateral first-step quickness — the ability to read a ball and get there first. We train the hip activation and force production that drives faster initial movement in the passing lane.
- Penultimate step braking — the second-to-last step in an approach determines how much power gets transferred into the jump. Poor braking mechanics leave points on the floor. We train this deliberately.
- Scapular upward rotation — the shoulder blade has to rotate properly for healthy overhead hitting. Athletes who lack this mobility compensate with the shoulder joint itself, which is a direct path to impingement and injury over a long season.
Year-Round Training Structure
Training is built around periodization — the focus shifts throughout the year based on where athletes are in their season. This prevents overtraining, keeps athletes peaking at the right time, and ensures they're not doing the same thing in October that they're doing in March.
Progress Testing
Athletes are tested every 6 weeks using volleyball-specific performance metrics. Every athlete and parent can see exactly how development is tracking — not just feel like progress is happening.
Is Strength Training Safe for Kids?
There's a long-standing fear that strength training too early causes stunted growth or damages the spine. These claims have been studied and debunked many times over the last several decades. But that doesn't mean we're loading a young athlete with a heavy barbell squat.
Every athlete goes through a slow, earned progression. For example: once an athlete demonstrates mastery of a bodyweight squat with good form and proper bracing, we may progress to a goblet squat. From there, single-leg variations — unloaded first, then weighted as they earn it. We are not loading the spine with heavy conventional barbell lifts until an athlete has built a real foundation and trained consistently over a long period of time.
The goal is always the same: athletes who are stronger, more resilient, and more capable — and who stay on the court.
Read the Full Blog Post →About the Coach
Tatum Erickson is the founder of Take5 Athletics and leads Strength & Performance training at HVVC. He approaches athlete development through multiple lenses — movement science, strength programming, and nutrition — because real athletic development requires all three working together.
- NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES)
- NASM Certified Personal Trainer (CPT)
- Nutrition Therapy Master (NTM)
- Currently finishing BS in Sports & Health Science
- Founder, Take5 Athletics & Take5 Nutrition
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