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Developing dynamic balance in tennis

Developing Dynamic Balance in Tennis Players

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.

More like this:

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Starting with a bang: junior’s warm-up routines

Warm-ups are an essential part of every lesson and your programme. I believe that your junior’s warm-up routine reflects you and what you are about – don’t let it be boring! Use it as a way to set your standards for the lesson and your programme.

At one of LTA North’s Conferences in Leeds, I presented 3 sets of multiple warm-up exercises that are guaranteed to help get your junior players ready to move, ready to play, ready to learn! Don’t worry if you couldn’t be there – this post gives you everything you need PLUS a tonne of drills. I’ve also posted an agenda that you can use to plan your warm-up.

“READY TO MOVE, READY TO PLAY, READY TO LEARN”

What type of sport is tennis – what are warm-ups preparing players for?

  • Tennis is dynamic, with varied multi-directional movement.
  • Open skill – no 2 movements or shots are ever the same!
  • Problem-solving – players have to concentrate hard on every new challenge thrown at them by the opponent, the ball and the elements

Thoughts on junior warm-ups

  • Warm-ups in a typical lesson are often missed opportunities. The warm-up is part of the lesson, so treat it as such.
  • In the same way, you wouldn’t want to miss the start of a film at the cinema, the warm-up should also be unmissable
  • Use it as a way to set your standards for the lesson and your programme. Your warm-up reflects you and what you are about!
  • Use a ball in every warm up. It is guaranteed that your players can improve receiving skills!
  • Don’t be afraid to teach or correct in the warm-up. The alternative is to watch players do things badly over and over again!
  • Warm-ups aren’t just about movement. They are the time to focus on quality and effort and to get into ‘tennis mode’
  • Have a purpose for every warm up. If you can’t see clear benefits, don’t do it
  • Think about achieving 3 objectives in every warm up – get players ready to move, ready to play, ready to learn

Warm-ups that get players Ready to Move!

  • Objective – to get players moving in varied ways with good precision and quality
  • Principle – movement of the whole body, not just feet, to include a ball to establish the ready, read and react

Movement drills for warm-ups

  • ‘Groundstroke volley drill (1 player)’ – in service boxes with one player as feeder and the other moving. Moving player plays alternate groundstrokes and volleys, with emphasis on moving forward to a variety of volleys and moving back for a variety of deeper groundstrokes
  • ‘Groundstroke volley drill (2 players)’ – as above with both players alternating groundstrokes and volleys
  • ‘One leg rally (1 player)’ – the goal is to focus on positioning of outside/back leg in the set up on groundstrokes. In service boxes with one player as feeder and the other moving. Moving player plays all groundstrokes off one leg to find a good set up and maintain balance through the stroke
  • ‘One leg rally (2 players)’ – as above with both players playing off one leg
  • ‘Ker-plunk’ Aim is to judge positioning in relation to first bounce and to have the second bounce on the racket placed on the ground. One point is earned every time the ball bounces on the strings

Warm-ups that get players Ready to Play!

  • Objective – to play every shot on time and on balance with precision, care and intensity
  • Start to develop sharp movement, feel and timing for the ball
  • Principle – set the minimum standards for the lesson and the players

Racket warm-up drills

  • ‘Quarters’ – use lines to split each service box into 4 quarters. Players rally cooperatively and cannot hit 2 consecutive balls to the same quarter. As variations, add an overarm serve to the drill, serving to any quarter, or use a cone to block out a chosen quarter to reduce the options for the opponent
  • ‘Inside out’ – mark out a tramline down the middle of each service box. One player (the actor) can hit anywhere either inside or outside the marked tramline. The reactor must return by hitting to the opposite
  • ‘Inside out with spin’ – as above but the actor chooses the spin and the direction, and the reactor hits opposite direction and opposite spin
  • Two ball drill – players in service boxes rallying with 2 balls at the same time. To increase the challenge, try one yellow and one orange ball giving different speeds and bounces

Warm-ups that get players Ready to Learn!

  • Objective – to engage the brain as well as body; to set personal and session goals around quality rather than just outcome; to know “what will I learn today?”
  • Principle – switch on the brain; get into learning mode

Brain drills for warm-ups

  • ‘Hand grenade’ – throw and catch between 2 players, 1 as feeder and one as reactor. Use 3 balls, two yellow and one orange. The yellow ball bounces before the catch and the orange ball is the hand grenade and mustn’t bounce
  • ‘Run around hand grenade’ – feeder throws up 2 balls at a time, with one yellow and one orange ball in one hand, and one yellow ball in the other hand. The yellow ball bounces and the orange ball is the hand grenade and mustn’t bounce
  • ‘Racket Hand grenade’ – throw and catch between 2 players, 1 as feeder and one as reactor. Use 3 balls, two yellow and one orange. The yellow ball bounces and the player catches on the racket, and the orange ball is the hand grenade and mustn’t bounce

Other Tennis(24/7) articles and clips on warm-ups

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Revised and updated from our post dated Sep 21, 2016

Nick Jacques’ Tape That Warm-up Exercise (video)

Join me watching Nick Jacques from Tennis New Zealand, demonstrate his Tape That warm-up exercise live at the Evolutionics 2018 International Coaches Symposium.

Coordination exercises as “energizers” or warm-ups

This next exercise can be used as a warm-up exercise or an “energizer”.

I think Nick has coined – “energizers” are another great way we can use coordination exercises in our sessions. For instance, if you’ve had a long break, say 5-7 minutes for a drink break, then people are cooling down a bit and you may need to get everyone revved up and going again. Nick suggests using an “energizer”!

The game

  • Make a tail.
  • Line everybody up.
  • Then say GO!!! The aim of the game is to be the person who rips out the most tails! Players get a point for every time they rip somebody’s tail out.
  • When you rip somebody’s tail out, you throw it away. They have to go and get it.
  • The game is played only inside the rectangle. The service boxes and tramlines are out.
  • When the tail gets pulled out, players move out of bounds, put the tail back in and then jump back into the game and try to learn from their mistake. Maybe they moved too slowly, or maybe they weren’t making enough space. Maybe everyone was attacking them!
  • If the kids move too slowly they have to pull their own tail out!

What makes this warm-up exercise or “energizer” so good?

First – it’s great fun!

Second – when you chart the way a kid moves on the court it’s not side to side, side to side, side to side, they’re moving all over the place. The end result is a big scribble – it’s more like tennis that had to deal with an emergency of some sort. Tennis is a game of emergency, it’s not a game where you have all the time in the world. You have to react fast. This game replicates that type of movement – players are all over the place.

Lastly, everyone is involved, the whole time. Nick says, “I don’t like elimination games. I try not to make things pink and fluffy, but when we do elimination games, I don’t like the time that somebody stays off court and I don’t like the feeling of, “You lost so you shouldn’t do anything.” Because surely, if you lost, you should do more.”

Other warm-up exercises on Tennis(24/7)

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Mindfulness in tennis: a 10 minute meditation

Remembering back, Djokovic is probably the player who did the most initially to raise awareness of mindfulness meditation. Djokovic talked about how mindfulness meditation, as much as his extraordinary physical fitness, helped him in his rise to rating dominance several years ago.

Back then, his approach to the mental side of tennis through Mindfulness meditation was innovative. Since then, mindfulness meditation has started to pop up everywhere – even at my kid’s school residential camp! For kids whose minds are racing and jumping about – particularly after playing video games – mindfulness meditation can help with kid’s focus and concentration.

No-one in the i2c office is trained in meditation techniques, but we’ve used our knowledge of Mindfulness meditation to get you started with a short 10-minute meditation.

You’ll see big improvements in your ability to complete the mediation if you practise the 10 minutes of meditation twice a day. You’ll notice how you get better at observing your thoughts and re-focusing.

10 minute Mindfulness meditation

  1. Set a timer for 10 minutes.
  1. Find a comfortable, quiet spot to sit where you won’t be disturbed for 10 minutes. Sit so that your feet are resting on the floor and your hands are by your sides or resting comfortably, but not crossed. Close your eyes to reduce distractions.
  1. Settle your mind by thinking about the physical sensation of where your body is touching whatever you are sitting on. Is it soft, hard, spongy, rough? Think about these sensations for a minute or two. If you find that tough, then a great alternative is to put a small piece of chocolate in your mouth and think about the flavour and texture of the chocolate in your mouth. This is a great way to help children settle their minds!
  1. When you are ready, bring your awareness to your breath. Breathing normally, begin to focus on the process of breathing in… and breathing out. Observe the rise and fall of your rib cage as you take each breath in.
  1. During the remainder of the 10 minutes continue to keep your attention on your breathing. You will probably find that your mind will wander; that’s normal. When you realise that has happened, observe where your thoughts went to, but don’t criticise, and gently bring your attention back to your breathing.
  2. When the timer stops you at 10 minutes, open your eyes and re-focus on your surroundings.

 

Disclaimer: i2c are not trained in meditation techniques. This meditation is based on our own knowledge of Mindfulness meditation. We cannot guarantee any benefit or improvement in your game or health by undertaking this meditation. You undertake this meditation entirely at your own risk.

Originally published on: Nov 11, 2016

Junior Tennis Warm Up: Throw & Catch ‘Overhead’ (video)

“Throw & Go” is fun activity for juniors which involves throwing and moving a ball to mimic the movements used in the serve and the forehand and backhand. Great for small groups of 4 – 6 players (or you can split a larger group into smaller groups). Not a tennis racket in sight!

We like to highlight activities that we demonstrate in our coach education qualification courses. This clip supports tennis coaches education journey and extends your Coach Education training and development. To see i2c’s coach education courses visit our parent site.