Successful tennis programs take hard work. But with dedication and some strategic insight, you can improve your coaching skills to bring out the best in your players.
Arranging training sessions ahead of time is essential, including planning drills to be executed in an organized manner and simulating match pressure in practice.
Serve and Return Drill
Returning a fast first serve can be one of the most demanding shots in tennis, requiring quick reflexes, excellent ball tracking ability and outstanding hand-eye coordination. A player only has seconds to respond and hit it before it has already left their court; any delay could lead to them rushing their stroke or swinging too rapidly resulting in short contact paths with excessive spin that makes control impossible.
To enhance player’s consistency when it comes to hitting their return shots, this simple drill focuses on hitting short groundstrokes close to the service line. Keep your back foot in its proper place when returning as this will help generate more power from their body and generate more force when running into shots. Involve both legs when hitting because their lower half has larger muscles which produce more power when sprinting into shots.
For this drill, the coach will stand on the other side of the net and feed players balls either long or short distances away from them. Players should start off with long distance feeds before switching over to shorter feeds that require them to sprint more. This drill helps train reaction time as well as recognize nonverbal communication signals from server regarding when to hit either volleys or groundstrokes.
This game will give players an enjoyable way to practice serving from singles and doubles positions as well as honing their aiming abilities. Take turns serving into each target; the one who hits it closest wins!
This drill is intended to make players feel as if they are participating in an actual match, and thus increase their motivation. Furthermore, players will have an opportunity to work on improving their serves or any other parts of their game that need improvement while getting familiar with the rules so they can play better when competing against actual opponents on court.
Volley Drill
Volleying is an integral skill for every tennis player, particularly at higher levels. A volley involves hitting close to the net where reaction times are reduced significantly and players must quickly process information and respond in an effective way. Therefore, specific technical tools are required for effective volleying play near the net.
This volley drill is an effective, straightforward way to increase a player’s ability to close the net. To run it, pair two players, with one on each side of the net, then have them compete against each other by hitting over and volleying into their opponent’s court to score points – the first team to achieve this is declared victorious! For added challenge add objectives such as restricting how often balls can be touched before passing back or require players to call out their partner’s name before hitting each ball.
An effective volley drill you can utilize with your students is having them work on their footwork by bouncing a ball against a wall while they stand in their stances and bouncing it against it repeatedly. This will enable them to feel the correct position when preparing to hit a volley and teach them how to perform a smooth, fluid motion while hitting their shot.
Your final volley drill for students involves having them practice with their partners by hitting a series of volleys. You can set an ideal number, while still providing enough difficulty for every level of player. Inviting students to hit as many consecutive volleys without missing will help focus them on the process and let them discover how best to “flow” through their volleys.
Finally, your students can practice forehand and backhand volleys by standing at the center service line and rallying crosscourt with each other. Your coach can feed them the ball and shout out if the player should volley or groundstroke it.
Groundstroke Drill
One of the hallmarks of successful tennis play is mastery of groundstrokes. Consistency with groundstrokes determines success at winning points, so coaches should include groundstroke drills as part of their coaching sessions to develop this important aspect of tennis play. There are numerous types of groundstroke drills, each designed to strengthen player consistency with groundstrokes.
One effective groundstroke drill involves having players hit to a target zone on the court, teaching them how to be more aggressive when playing close to the lines. Another excellent drill involves practicing hitting from various ready positions – for instance one player may start in the back left corner while the other stands nearer to the service line – then swap and switch back over as soon as they hit towards their sideline.
One way to ramp up the intensity of a groundstroke drill is through rally challenges. Have two players pair up and compete against each other by playing multiple rallies together; score each other on how many points each one managed to keep alive throughout. This allows coaches to assess student progress more accurately as well as see who’s making gains.
Keep a high net clearance when practicing groundstrokes – this will enable the player to keep control of his or her shots and reduce errors made during practice.
There are also other great groundstroke drills that can be included in a tennis coaching session, including spider and zigzag drills. Spider drills involve running to and from various parts of the court in various patterns – for instance sprinting sideways towards right-hand tram lines before sprinting diagonally towards front of net and then back towards center court again before repeating this sequence until all corners of tennis court have been covered by this drill.
Reaction Drill
As is true in many sports, tennis requires its players to react swiftly to both verbal and visual cues from teammates or coaches, making quick responses crucial to scoring points. To assist their athletes’ reaction times and enhance practice sessions, coaches should include drills that force athletes to respond rapidly to various stimuli; such drills will add variety and increase enjoyment!
Athleticians can develop their reactions to visual cues with the ladder reaction drill. Two cones are placed about 10 yards (9 m). An athlete stands in an athletic position at the first cone before running toward the second one upon hearing his coach’s go signal; as soon as they near it, their coach signals backpedalling towards their first cone and chops their feet for changing directions or changing directions – repeating this cycle until all time has elapsed and directions have changed back again.
This reaction drill helps athletes develop lateral movement transitions and hand-eye coordination by having them shuffle their feet while keeping their eyes focused on the ball. They must make quick directional changes so they don’t get caught off guard by an unexpected pass from an opponent, with coaches adding extra cones or increasing speed at which athletes shuffle their feet for extra difficulty.
Mirror drill is another reaction drill designed to boost foot speed and eye-hand coordination. One player stands in an upstanding position on their balls of their feet with their knees slightly bent while a partner holds two tennis balls within arm’s reach in front of them. One partner then drops one of these tennis balls on another player who must catch it before it hits the ground; once dropped they should call out a number to indicate which ball it should be caught by before dropping another one themselves.
This drill allows an athlete to make quick decisions by training them to match the movements of a leader. When moving randomly, this leader moves randomly while players must mirror his or her movements as closely as possible to enhance reaction time. This drill works well alongside other reaction drills as it facilitates quick decision-making during game play.