Warm‐Up Drills ‐
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Short Court Groundstrokes Volley – Volley Hand Behind Back Volleys ‐ Both players start near or at the service line and initiate a rally with their non‐dominant hand behind their back (or a coach can feed in). The ball should be volleyed out of the air, but if it happens to hit the ground, players should hit a half volley and focus on staying down through contact. This drill helps the players to: hit volleys without a backswing, work on control, work on volleying with their feet, and concentrating on the contact point. ¾ Court Volleys Close in Volleys‐ The emphasis here is on competition and closing points. Zig‐Zag‐ One player always hits down the line – while the other always hits crosscourt. Live Drills Name of the drill:Dictate/Opposite Number of players: 2‐4 on a court. Explanation of Drill: A player begins a groundstroke rally by hitting with a certain spin (topspin). In response, the opposing player must hit with a different spin (slice, flat). On the other hand, a player could hit down the line to which their opponent must hit back the ball crosscourt and so on. The drill could also be a combination of both (i.e., reply to down the line flat ball with crosscourt topspin).The emphasis is not on competition necessarily but the players still should work on keeping a fast paced rally going. Objective: ‐
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Get the players to work on taking a ball and controlling it with a spin or direction of their choice. This drill gives the player practice in taking spins and changing the spin so as to dictate the point. It also gives the player live ball experience in changing the tempo and direction of their opponents shot to a tempo and direction of their own. Name of the drill:High and Heavy/Drive Number of players: 2‐4 on court Explanation of Drill: Single players are instructed to keep a groundstroke rally going. One player focuses on hitting high and heavy balls while the other focuses on hitting flat driving balls or swinging balls. The emphasis is on consistency more than competition. Objective: ‐
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Get players practice returning high heavy balls with swinging volleys or flat driving shots. Get players practice returning driving flat shots or fast balls with high and heavy shots. Similar to the previous drill, this drill implores players to work on controlling difficult shots and replying with a different shot so as to take control of the point. 2 on 1 Drills Name of the drill:High‐ Low 2 on 1 Number of Players: 3 players in is optimal (4 can be on a court with one waiting) Explanation of Drill: A coach feeds the ball to the net player to start. The two baseline players are working the ball low and high at the net player. Once they get the weak response, they are to take the ball directly at the net player. The net player’s goal to stay in control of the net, not let the ball bounce, and make sure they are not hitting defensive shots or falling into a defensive position. The baseline players are to hit at the net player at all times and the net player is to volley through their opponents at all times. Objective: ‐
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Get the net player practice playing forward and backward so as to keep control of the point. Also, get the net player a lot of practice hitting dipping balls and overheads. Get the baseline players to stay up on the baseline and hit aggressive shots to force weak replies from the net player. ‐ Finally, if executed properly, this drill can also serve as a conditioning exercise for the net player. Name of the drill:Volley‐Baseline Number of players: 3 players in is optimal (4 can be on court with one waiting). Explanation of Drill: Coach feeds to the baseline player to start. 2 players at the net and one player are at the baseline. The baseline player is instructed to work on: shortening their backswing, staying low, hitting aggressively with topspin through the net players, and holding their position on the baseline. The net players are to volley deep with under spin right at the baseline players’ feet so as to push them off the baseline. Even if the ball goes out, the baseline player should hit a swinging volley to keep the rally going. A suggested rule to put in place: baseline player gets replaced by player in waiting if they hit the ball into the net two times. Objective: ‐
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Have the net players get work on trapping the baseline the player, getting them to chip the ball or getting them to back off the baseline. Have the baseline player get work on staying balanced, staying low, and getting racquet acceleration. Situational Drills ***The overlying purpose of each of these drills is to condition the players to be more instinctive, explosive, and proactive in points. Name of the drill: Offense‐Defense Players: 4 is optimal number Explanation of Drill: 1 on 1 singles point. A coach feeds either a deep ball (fast and deep, fast and wide, deep and heavy, heavy and wide etc.) or a short ball (in the middle of court near service line) to a singles player and the point is played out. The coach dictates who they want on offense or defense with the feed. Objective: ‐
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Get players multiple repetitions hitting hard flat balls or high heavy balls so that they can effectively neutralize the shot. Get players multiple repetitions seeing their opponent pressured so that they can recognize this and position themselves to capitalize and strike. This drill emphasizes defensive and offensive movement – specifically being able to transition from one to another in one point. Name of the drill: Attack open court on offense, or defend from a corner. Number of Players: 3‐4 on a court Explanation of Drill:Singles Drill. A coach is behind the baseline and they can hit two types of feeds. One: they can feed short and neutral to which one player should attack the open court, and look to come in or hit a swinging volley into the open court. The other type of feed could be deep, difficult, and in a corner to which the player should hit and recover. Meanwhile, the player on the feeder side becomes the situational offensive minded individual. Objective: ‐
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Get the defensive players work on their footwork and recovery and get the offensive players multiple repetitions recognizing and attacking court openings. This drill should ultimately improve forward and lateral movement. The drill should also instill in players the correct footwork and shot response when they are stretched or on the attack. Name of the drill: High‐Heavy to backhand Number of players: 4 is optimal Explanation of Drill: 1vs.1 singles point. Player gets fed high and heavy ball and attempts to hold ground and neutralize the shot with a high and heavy ball of their own. Conversely, they could get a neutral ball which they should hit high and heavy so as to spread the court by pushing their opponent (on the feeders’ side) off the baseline or make them uncomfortable. Objective: ‐
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Get players multiple repetitions hitting high and heavy backhands so they can neutralize their opponents’ attacks or take their opponents out of their comfort zone and push them out of position. Get the players to think in terms of simple patterns (i.e., deep heavy ball that pushes opponent off baseline opens an opportunity for me to attack and move forward). Gets players a lot of work on their transition game. Get opponent out of position to create situation of less thinking. Name of the drill: Down the line attack or spread the court with angle. Number of players: 4 Explanation of Drill: 1vs.1 singles drill. Feeder hits a neutral ball a little past service line and receiver looks to hit a short angle. If they hit a short angle, they should be prepared to come forward and volley or hit a swinging volley into the open court. If they hit down the line, they should follow the ball in and either hit an overhead, swinging volley or volley. The most effective way to have competitive points is to tell the receiver to hit to the same side of the court (i.e., all forehands go crosscourt, backhands down the line). Objective: ‐
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Improve the player’s ability to stretch court horizontally with rolling short angles. Improve player’s ability to reply to a short ball with explosive forward movement and approach shot instead of passively keeping a rally going. Work on lateral defense and moving back into position when stretched. Instill in players automatic responses that they can rely on to: neutralize their opponent (defending the angle or approach) or: set up an opportunity where they can pressure their opponent and attack them before they have reset. Name of the drill: Approach ‐ Pass Number of Players: 3‐4 on a court. Explanation of Drill: Singles drill. Coach feeds a neutral ball (or lob) and one player takes the ball off the bounce or out of the air down the line or up the middle. If the approaching player is off net, the baseline player should dip the ball at their feet, then look to pass or lob. If the approaching player is closer to the net, the baseline player should hit hard at their body and then lob or pass.The passer is advised to put no balls in the net or wide, they have to at least make the net player volley. The approaching player should at least put the ball in play so as to pressure the baseline player. Objective: ‐
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Improve player’s ability to reply to a short ball with explosive forward movement, approach shot, and closing volley instead of passively keeping a rally going. Give players ability to hit swinging volleys which will neutralize and attack an opponent’s lobs or attempts to push. Get players a lot of experience playing lateral defense and moving back into position when stretched. Also, get repetitions in neutralizing a singles player at the net. Many players are somewhat uncomfortable coming forward. This conditions players to become more adept at the net. At the same time, this drill allows baseline players to defend against or exploit both strong and weak players at the net. Doubles Drills Name of the drill:2 on 1 Hot Seat Number of players: 3is needed. Explanation of Drill: 3 players are on a court. 2 players are on one side in a 1 up 1 back doubles formation. On the other side, the coach is at the baseline feeding and the third player is alone at the net (crosscourt from the other net player). The feeder either hits a difficult or neutral ball to the baseline player and the point is played out. The feeder can also hit the ball hard but near the middle so the net player can intercept it and attack the solo net player. Objective: ‐
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Get the doubles teams thinking about moving and positioning themselves strategically. Improve the baseline player’s ability to offensively and defensively lob their opponent at the net as well as attack the opponent so as to set up their partner or themself. Get the net player to move with and react off of the baseline players’ shots so as to make themselves more explosive in poaching. This drill is important because it implores the baseline player to think about shot selection both on defense and offense. Also, this drill improves the net player’s (whose partner is at the baseline) movement and explosiveness. The drill also allows the solo net player to get multiple repetitions playing defense and offense when a groundstroke or volley is hit at them. Name of the drill: Movement and Poaching Number of players: 4‐6 Explanation of Drill: Have players start in the conventional 1 up 1 back doubles set. The baseline players are instructed to rally crosscourt. Meanwhile, the net players are instructed to poach and direct their volley at the net player across from them (this initial poach begins the following process). For the player who receives that volley, they are to volley deep back to their baseline opponent and poach on that player’s next shot and take it back to the net player across the court (and repeat the process). Objective: ‐
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To get the net players to improve their constant movement including poaching, balance, movement, and recovery. Have baseline players improve their ability to rally crosscourt with a net presence. This drill is pertinent because it pushes the net players to work on movement, coordination and balance. Name of the drill:2 up 2 back (With Grandma’s House) Number of players: 4‐6 Explanation of Drill: Feeder puts ball in play (to net team via volley or lob or the baseline team with a neutral or hard feed) and the point is played out. Incentives and/or negative reinforcement can be applied. For example, a rule could be put in place that if the net team lets a ball bounce at their feet, over their head, or go through the middle – they automatically lose the point. Likewise, if the baseline team loses a point by letting a ball go off the court wide, over their heads (via overhead), or through the middle – they lose a point and incur a point penalty. Objective: ‐
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Improve the baseline players’ ability to offensively and defensively lob, dip the ball at their opponents’ feet, drive the ball through the middle, or drive the ball at their bodies so as to set up their partner or themself. Improve groundstroke consistency and potency of players in fast paced doubles rallies. Get the net players work on volleying balls straight forward (instead of crosscourt) so as to cut down angles and reaction time of opponents. The drill conditions players to be in the right position at the net and baseline. It also gives them work transitioning from defense, neutral to offense all in one point.