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Tennis: New Approach to Net Game

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Nick, Tennis coach

DESCRIPTION

Coach stays behind the service line and feeds shorter ball to player's forehand.
Player hits forehand half-volley back to coach in down the line direction and moves forward.
Coach hits the ball in cross-court direction using volley.
Player finishes set with deep backhand volley down the line.

COACHING POINTS

In this drill player improves half-volleys and regular volleys. As with any other skill big number of repetitions is needed to get confidence with volleys skills and obtain high level of control with shots played out of the air. By involving own person into the drill coach not only positively impacts player's motivation but also makes the whole drill much more effective. Changing pace and placement of own shots is a big opportunity for coach to challenge player more and see how he can respond to difficult situation. These mental and tactical skills can decide whether player will win or lose the match so that is why coach should emphasize development of these skills during every practice session.

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OFTEN USED WITH...

Open Stance With Help:

Hula hoops are set on the court to help player imitate movement for open stance forehand
The player performs a split step in the first cone and uses shuffle step to move to the side
At the end, the coach throws the ball so the player can hit a forehand whilst using open stance

Movement

Necessary Splits:

Player performs split step jumps forwards between the cones.
Once they reach the end cone, they will turn and repeat this back to where they started.

Movement

'X' movement:

Purpose:

learn to move in an "X" pattern under pressure of movement.

Coach feeds the ball in the sequence 1,2,3,4 for each player in turn.

Coach feeds high deep balls to points 1,3 and shorter feeds to 2,4.

Exact pattern of 1,2,3,4 maintained throughout.

Player hits feeds 1,3 deep crosscourt. Feeds 2,4 down the line. Feed in sets of 16 balls.

Movement

Over the Shoulder:

Players stand on the base line, with one player in front of another.

Player two (the player without the ball) has their back to their partner.

Player 1 can throw the ball when they like. As soon as player 2 sees the ball coming over their head they must react and move to catch it (preferably its second bounce) and then return to their partner in order to repeat.

Movement

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