Block Footwork at the Wall
Ages 10 and up · A solid wall with clear floor along it; chalk marks a few feet apart help
Blocking is footwork wearing tall hands, and the wall teaches both halves safely: lateral travel along the wall (shuffles for short trips, the three-step crossover for long ones) ending in a jump with the hands pressing OVER toward the wall's far side, the exact shape that seals a net. No net or partner needed; the wall's honest feedback (hands drifting back never touch it) coaches every rep.
Landing standards ride every jump here as everywhere: two feet, bent knees, quiet, with jump volume kept honest. The travel-arrive-press pattern built on a wall transfers to a net whole, minus only the timing that team practice supplies.
How to run it
- Block stance at the wall: facing it an arm's length away, knees bent, hands up at shoulder height, palms to the wall.
- The press jump: from the stance, jump and press both hands UP and OVER toward the wall (fingertips reaching over an imaginary net edge, arms shrugged tall, core tight), landing two-foot quiet. Six reps.
- Shuffle travel: two lateral shuffles along the wall (shoulders square to it), arrive, jump-and-press. Six reps each direction.
- Crossover travel: the three-step turn-and-run along the wall for longer distance, hips SQUARING back to the wall before the jump. Six reps each direction.
- Finish with called mixes: a parent calls "SHORT LEFT!" or "LONG RIGHT!" and the kid picks the right travel mode, arrives square, presses over, lands quiet. Log clean reps.
What to say
Common faults and fixes
Jumping mid-travel (drifting sideways through the jump).
The arrive-then-jump sequence graded: feet stopped and square for a beat before takeoff. Drifting blockers get tooled at every level; the wall makes stillness checkable.
Hands swinging back before pressing (the wind-up that eats blockers at nets).
Hands start high and STAY high through the jump: the wall punishes wind-ups by being unreachable. Grade the hands' path for a set.
Crossover trips ending un-squared (hips still turned at the jump).
Slow the third step until the hips snap back square before takeoff. The travel is worthless if the arrival is sideways; the squaring IS the skill.
Make it easier, make it harder
Stationary press jumps only; walked travel; fewer reps with full rest.
Longer travels at speed; press jumps at marked wall targets (seal height raced against the log); travel-jump-travel chains; reaction versions off late calls; the penetrating-seal shape refined later at real nets with coaches.
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