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Up & Volley Drill

Tennis 24/7 Coach Academy: 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.

More Drills on Tennis(24/7)

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Other Activities You Can Practise After Lessons

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MEMBER’S CONTENT Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

MEMBER'S CONTENT Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

Navigating your way through a lesson can be tricky when you are new to coaching. To help new and less experienced coaches, we’ve produced this Standard Lesson Structure Checklist to ensure that you stay on track during your lessons, and to ensure that lessons link from week to week.

The Standard Lesson Structure Checklist has been used and road-tested in our international programmes.

Download the checklist: [download id=”3116″]

Guide to using the Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

My notes on each point in the checklist are below. You can also download the guide: [download id=”3145″]

The coach prepares the court before the players arrive
  • Have the court set up with all equipment ready
The coach is on the court ready to welcome the kids as they arrive
  • Be ready to meet the players and parents as they arrive. Never arrive after the players
The coach introduces the theme for the lesson
  • Professional coaches have schemes of work where they know the theme and exactly what they are aiming to achieve in  every lesson
The coach starts the lesson with a dynamic warm up
  • Tennis is a dynamic sport; prepare them accordingly. Avoid just a run round the court, but develop movement and activities for different parts of the body
The coach delivers high quality activity focussing on developing ABCS
  • Develop the agility, balance, coordination and speed skills needed for tennis
The coach completes a racket warm up
  • If they can play, warm up all strokes, focussing on good movement and recovery, loose strokes and good contact points
The coach plays a competitive rally game to observe and analyse the players
  • It’s a good idea to get competitive at the very start, so you can observe them tactically, technically, physically and mentally
The coach introduces and demonstrates the technical and tactical teaching point
  • Once you’ve decided on the main teaching points for the lesson, demo, demo, demo. It’s your strongest form of communication!
The coach ensures appropriate feeding for the lesson objective
  • Feed in a an appropriate way relevant to the game situation and tactical intention you are working on. You might get the players to feed to each other too
The coach progresses the lesson to involve rally skills involving the teaching point
  • Build your teaching point into rally activities; can the players still remember the skill they developed when they also have to think about the rest of the game?
The coach completes the lesson with a competitive rally game or matchplay
  • Test the skill in competitive games or matchplay at the end of the lesson
The coach completes a cool down, thanks players, and sets the theme for the next lesson
  • Often overlooked, the cool down is a good time to slow the players down at the end with some gentle movement exercises or games
The coach and the players collect the equipment before the players leave
  • If you have another lesson straight after, set up equipment, and get ready to greet your next players

MEMBER'S CONTENT Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

More Checklists for Tennis Coaches

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MEMBERS ONLY Tots Tennis: Floor Tennis! (video)

This exclusive clip from one of our Tots CPD classes shows Mel explaining how to start tots off working with a ball and how to link that to the actions they will use when they work with a racket.

Mel’s draws on her experience to highlight the unique challenges of working with tots! For instance, when tiny tots are unable to roll a ball to each other… Mel shows how to make the exercise simpler and how to provide explanations and instructions that tots will be able to follow.

This is an excellent resource for anyone who has completed one of our Tots CPD classes or is thinking about running tots classes. Mel Short, who presents this activity, is an expert coach educator who regularly delivers i2c’s Tots CPD short course.

MEMBERS ONLY Tots Tennis: Introducing Games to Tots (video)

Our Tots Professional Development Course is one of our most popular short courses. Mel Short, who runs our great courses, lets us sit in on a group of attendees setting up “proper” tennis games for a group of tots. With Mel, you can experience the normal challenges of introducing activities to tots and how to keep them learning, active and having fun.