Drills & Tips

Feb 25 2020

Underarm Server Drill

The Underarm Server Drill is a flexible drill that can be done with just 2 players on court or easily scaled up to have many children cooperating on court without needing a coach to feed the ball. The variations keep it engaging as player’s work on their skills.

What COACHES, PLAYERS and PARENTS should know about this drill

This is a great activity for so many different reasons:

We would recommend that players become familiar with serving overarm as soon as possible, but that’s not easy and will take time. In the meantime, and to ensure that the players get a rally after the serve, serving underarm can often be an easier first step
It’s a really good cooperative activity where the kids can work together on serve and return
Doing this activity is also great for learning how to feed like a coach, which means that kids can cooperate in activities together without needing the coach to feed for them. You might also try feeding by letting the ball bounce before you hit it, although this isn’t allowed in the rules of tennis for a serve
Many coaches like to let kids serve underarm for the second serve. That’s OK but as an alternative, try getting kids to put the racket in the non-dominant hand and then throw the ball overarm for the second serve. That way they get to practise more of the overarm action associated with the overarm serve

VARIATIONS of the Underarm Server Drill for coaches, players & parents

It can be a great competitive activity where pairs work together in competition against other pairs:
- Have both players serving underarm and catching like in the video. Count how many serve and catch combinations a pair can do in 2 minutes, or which pair can be the first to do 10 serve and catch combinations
- Which pair can achieve the most serve-return-third short-catch combinations in 2 minutes, or
- Which pair can achieve the first pair to do 10 serve-return-third short-catch combinations
The video shows the players serving into the service box, but to challenge the players more, divide the service box into two, so that the serve has to serve to the forehand or the backhand side
Put some hoops on the court, and try to serve the ball into different hoops. That will really help your accuracy
This is a great activity to do at home. Try this activity over a bamboo cane or a skipping rope if you don’t have a net at home.
Do the same progressions with an overarm serve, then you really are doing well!
Instead of playing a groundstroke for the third shot, why not play a volley instead. Then you will be combining this drill with our recent Up and Volley Drill.

Tennis(24/7)’s TOP TIPS for the Underarm Server Drill

The server:

Stand a little sideways and take your time when serving
Think about where you are going to aim the serve and why
Don’t try to hit too hard. It’s hard to win the point from the serve
Get ready for the return as soon as you have hit the serve. The ball will come back and you need to be ready
Try to serve wide and then hit your groundstroke to the other direction, just like the pros

The returner:

Be ready. The serve is coming!
Be ready to play a forehand or a backhand. The server may try to serve to your backhand if they know it’s the weaker shot
Make sure you get the serve back. Don’t give away free points

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Feb 11 2020

Up & Volley Drill

The Up & Volley Drill is great for tennis coaches to have in their arsenal of developmental drills and it’s easy (and fun) to practise when the whole family is having fun on the court.

What COACHS, PLAYERS and PARENTS should know about this drill

The Up & Volley Drill is great for:

Developing cooperation and working together as feeder and volleyer
Learning to drop-feed (just like your coach)
Practising forehand and backhand volleys and volleys of different height
Practising volleying away from the opponent to win the point
Learning to time the approach, split step and volley

VARIATIONS of the Up & Volley Drill for players & parents

Variations can keep a drill interesting, make it easier or make it harder. With the Up & Volley Drill you can try these variations:

Volleyer moves in, split steps when you hear “stop”, then volley
Volleyer feeds the ball in, then moves in, split steps and volleys

i2c’s TOP TIPS for the Up & Volley Drill

If it’s your first time learning volleys, you can make the drill easier by volleying with the palm of your hand instead of the racket. It wont hurt if you use a sponge ball
To make it easier if it’s your first time trying drop feeding, throw the ball underarm instead. Stand a little closer to the net with a ball in your hand, shout “Stop” then throw the ball to the volleyer
You can make the drill harder by putting a blue cone in one corner and a red cone in the other corner. Instead of shouting “Stop”, try calling “Red” or “Blue” and see if you can volley in that direction
Another way to make it harder is to see if the feeder can hit the ball past the volleyer with the feed. If the volleyer touches the ball with the racket, 1 point to the volleyer. If the feeder hits it past the volleyer, 1 point to the feeder. If the feeder hits it past the volleyer, 1 point to the feeder. Lobs aren’t allowed, and play the first to 3 points, then rotate roles.

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Jul 30 2019

Developing dynamic balance in tennis

Dynamic balance is a player’s ability to maintain their balance while their body is in motion. It’s vital for athletes and people in everyday life – not just tennis players. However, for a tennis player, it’s critical! Developing a player’s dynamic balance improves their agility efficiency when rapidly changing direction on court.

This great warm-up or skill builder gets your players working together to develop and maintain dynamic balance.

Remember to make sure that player’s keep their feet apart and their centre of gravity low as they move, to help give better balance. When the ball goes higher (and young player’s get taller) player’s can use their opposite leg as a counter balance.

Other variations

In our short clip we show you the basic drill using fast feet and side-stepping to develop dynamic balance. The clip also shows you a way to challenge the players balance by moving the ball during the exercise. However, we like to encourage to think outside the square! You can try this with exercise with a beach ball, or with both players using rackets and a sponge ball trapped between the two rackets!

When to use the drill

Dynamic balance is skill that you can, and should, start building early. So, You can use variations of this drill with children from 8 years old through to adults. For younger players try using a bigger ball (like a beach ball or football) so that children have to hold the ball with 2 hands.

This drills is a lot of fun! So, it’s a great ice-breaker for new groups and for groups of children.

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Apr 02 2019

How to Improve Player Speed & Reactions With a Simple Baseline Drill

This simple speed & reactions baseline drill mirrors the skills needed to reach a drop shot from the baseline and control the ball for a short return. The drill builds speed, ball/racket control and reaction time – whilst offering variations to increase and decrease the difficulty and mirror different on-court scenarios. You’ll need four players to run this drill.

Speed & reactions baseline drill – Variation 1

To begin with, players can do the basic speed & reactions baseline drill; one player feeds a short ball and the receiving player must return the ball just back over the net for the feeder to catch. After feeding the ball the player should sit down and catch the return in their dominant hand. Having the feeder catch the ball serves two purposes, it:

Increases the difficulty for the hitter because they must have enough control over the ball to return it to where the seated player can catch it
Keeps the player feeding the ball moving and building hand-eye coordination.

Learning point

It’s a challenge to master the ability to run at full speed towards a short ball, like a drop shot, and control the ball when you get there. So, this drill is building the skill to run very quickly towards a ball and hit a simple short ball straight back over the net. Players must focus on getting a good athletic start when they run towards the ball.

Speed & reactions baseline drill – Variation 2

In the second variation, you can increase the difficulty of the activity and mirror different match situations by having the players return the ball cross court. Again, the player feeding the ball should sit down after feeding the ball. We demonstrate three different options to keep players challenged:

A – The players feeding the ball must catch the return with their dominant hand.
B – The players feeding the ball must catch the return with their non-dominant hand.
C – The players feeding the ball must tell the approaching player if they’ve got to hit a forehand or backhand.

Learning point

As with variation 1, this variation is helping players to focus on getting a good athletic start when they run to the ball. By changing the drill to cross-court players are again focussing on controlling the ball and the alternate drill options (A, B and C) are increasing reactivity – which is replicates the need to adjust your shot depending upon what your opponent does.

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Mar 06 2019

Drill: Speed & reactions from the baseline

inspire2coach

Tennis24/7 Speed and Reactions from the Baseline

Drill: Speed and Reactions from the Baseline

A simple drill to build speed, racket control & reaction time with variations to increase the level of difficulty and challenge for players.

This simple drill builds speed, ball/racket control and reaction time – whilst offering variations to increase and decrease the difficulty to accommodate different players. So, it’s a great activity to include when you’re working with groups of equal or mixed abilities.

Speed & reactions drill – Variation 1

For the base variation of this speed & reactions drill, players must run towards the ball, tap it gently up with their racket and then catch it – before they reach the service line.

Learning point

As the player runs at full speed towards a short ball, like a drop shot), they’re imagining that they’re going to play the most common return – which is a drop shot back. So, this drill is building the skill to run very quickly towards a ball that they’ve got to control when they get there.

Speed & reactions drill – Variation 2

In the second variation, players must hit the ball UP as if they were going to lob the ball, and then catch it – before they reach the service line.

Learning point

As the player runs at full speed towards the short ball at the net, again probably a drop shot, instead of just tapping the ball back over, they’re going to lob their opponent. This drill is building the skill level to do that.

Speed & reactions drill – Variation 3

When you have players with different skill levels – one faster, one slower, you can vary the challenge.

Option A – drop the ball from higher up to give the slower player longer to get to the ball.
Option B – drop the ball from in front you, closer to the player, to reduce the distance the slower player has to run.

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