Happy New Year all and welcome to January's Tip of the Month!

     Here's something every player can do before practice (once you've got the net set up) with anyone else who's shown up early.  It's a game called Short Court.  You can vary the rules but the basics are these:  Play 1 on 1, 2 on 2, or 3 on 3.  Define the court using one sideline, the 3 meter line as the baseline and make the court 3 meters wide per player.  So if there is just you and a friend you're playing on a 3X3 court, if you have 3 per team use the entire 3 meter area.  If you want to work hard with 2 players you can use the full 3 meter area as well. 

      One side serves to start it off, and you have your normal three contacts to use, except there is no jumping allowed!  You've got to tip, roll or wipe your opponent's hands to score.  This game is great to work on your reactions, ball control and court awareness.  Playing one on one you can decide how many contacts you want to use when you play, but normally go with either one or two.  Playing short court can help your game by teaching you to tip and roll effectively and using these shots as WEAPONS, instead of a bailout when you don't have the set you want in a match.  

     Playing short court can get pretty competitive, so make sure you don't burn too much energy before practice really starts!  So grab a partner and challenge some teammates to a game the next time you're sitting around, waiting for practice to start. Pretty soon everyone will be showing up early!  Until next time...