This drill is an ideal way to develop hand speed and get low. A feeder hits shots that must be volleyed by a player at the net who must close each time it lands to close the net and secure victory.
Challenge can be added by playing to score. For instance, an overhand volley and volley combination is worth two points.
Backhand/Forehand Drill
This drill is ideal for honing both backhand and forehand strokes. While this should ideally be completed with partners, one player can also perform this against a wall. In this drill, one coach serves as feeder, feeding balls alternately to backhand and forehand sides of court while student moves quickly to strike back at these balls immediately upon their appearance on court.
Make this drill even more challenging by starting with 100 forehand volleys without stopping, followed by 100 backhand volleys without stopping – this will help them develop a good flow in their volley rather than stopping and attacking every time a ball comes their way.
An excellent way to improve your volley is through playing live points with a training partner. Playing games of 11 can really help players feel the pressure and urgency of real tennis while they defend and volley real points. Restricting strokes to either forehand or backhand strokes forces other players to use their best techniques, helping you develop solid topspin backhand play instead of fidgety Seemiller shots.
Lunges can help build strong legs and cores when preparing to play volley, providing players with an opportunity to achieve better posture while moving in quickly to meet the ball. For optimal results, players should position themselves three feet behind the service line as this encourages moving in quickly to strike it with minimal impact while remaining within five or six feet from the net – an effective drill to perform before progressing onto more complex volley drills.
Three-Person Rally
The Three-Person Rally drill helps players develop the feel for hitting a volley while moving. This drill can be especially beneficial to beginners just learning the fundamentals of tennis as they practice hitting their first volleys while moving. In addition, intermediate players looking to improve their rally up the middle court may also benefit from practicing this drill.
This drill is simple and can be completed either alone or with a partner. Simply bounce the ball on your strings without letting it hit the floor, and hit volleys while in motion – this will teach you to keep the ball from dropping during hitting and help improve timing and your ability to hit with enough force so it doesn’t just bounce harmlessly away.
Make this drill more difficult by turning it into a game and keeping score. Do this by pairing two baseliners and one defender at net; one should try scoring points by hitting lobs or dropshots, while the other must defend any volley that enters their zone. Eventually, your player at the net will become inundated with shots which they must volley without missing any. Vary the type of shots being hit — fast ones, slow ones, high ones etc.
Catch-and-Volley Drill is another effective volley drill you can try, pairing up with someone and playing short volleys between yourselves to improve timing and the ability to read opponents shots before moving in to meet it at the net. Furthermore, this drill helps develop consistent volleys as well as creating muscle memory through practice with reliable partners who make good contact during each volley volley.
Catch-and-Volley Drill
This drill is a fantastic way to practice volleying while honing hand-eye coordination. Begin by having one player stand near the net on their NVZ line while another player stands around the middle of the court and service line (where they would typically hit groundstrokes). At first, one should only hit volleys; the other can hit groundstrokes only. At some point during play, one should throw balls over to their partner at their volley zone where both should then throw back balls as quickly as they can with both players making contact with all parts of their balls so as to develop hand-eye coordination skills and increase hand-eye coordination skills!
Once players have their technique down pat, they should attempt to hit as many consecutive volleys before switching sides and repeating this process. Doing this will not only strengthen their volleys but also help develop their footwork, leading to more consistent hits across different types of volleys.
Toss and Catch Drill (TCD). In order to perform this drill, players should stand close to the net with feet shoulder-width apart and their paddle in their dominant hands, positioning themselves near to the net with paddles in both hands. Players then toss a ball up into the air, catch it with both hands at its highest point of flight (this will assist them with volleying high balls during games), before tossing and catching again as required.
Make this drill even harder by having players alternate the direction of each volley volley they make; not only will this challenge them, but it will teach them to adjust their shots according to both ball direction and opponent positioning.
Keep score to add an element of competition to this drill and create the feeling of playing a game; two or more people can keep score together and players may be scored when their volley goes over the net or for an overhead smash, for instance. Scoring can make this drill very fun while helping develop key fundamentals of volleying at the same time!
Overhead Drill
Strong volley play is integral to success in tennis, and this drill can help hone both footwork and reaction at the net. Utilizing at least 50-75 balls, one person acts as the feeder while the other player stands 2-4 feet from the net (shorter players may move closer while taller ones should stand farther back). When throwing balls to players for them to volley over, their feeder may give directions such as “left,” “right” or “back,” providing variety to challenge volleyer’s footwork skills while honing their footwork skills.
Once they feel confident with this technique, players can move three feet back from their service line and practice moving quickly to the net to volley a ball hit by their feeder to either the left, right or center court – even hitting a lob will force players forward while honing their reaction time for such shots.
Players can attempt multiple rounds of this drill in order to score as many points as possible, developing better footwork, reaction time, hand-eye coordination and tactical play in each set. Furthermore, this competitive drill offers players an enjoyable challenge of seeing who can score the most points during any one set.
This fun and quick drill is ideal for beginner players looking to develop their footwork and quick reactions at the net. It’s simple and can easily be tailored according to player height – shorter players may start off closer together as their skills improve, gradually moving further away as their game matures.
An effective volley game demands both good footwork and reaction skills as well as tight timing. This drill provides beginners with an ideal way to develop these attributes; more experienced players may opt to increase its difficulty by moving further from the net.
