Volley Recovery

Oh so handy - I use them every day

My favorite shot to teach and to hit is the volley. Naturally this is because it is my best shot. So imagine my joy when I came across this great activity in my PTR Kids Tennis manual - a volley drill for 10 and unders! It is similar to the Cone Catch Relay, so if your students are familiar with that one, they will pick this one up quickly.

One player will be tossing (underhand!) and catching the ball. The other player will be hitting volleys off the tossed ball, so the players need to be old enough to toss decent feeds to forehand and backhand.

The tossing player will have a cone and needs easy but safe access to the ball hopper. The hitting player will need his/her racquet and a throw down spot. Spot should be placed 4-6 feet from the net on the hitting player's side.

Tosser alternates tossing balls to forehand and backhand of hitting player. Hitting player hits volleys off of these tossed balls - no bounce. After each volley, hitting player must recover to spot, then move forward to hit next volley. Throwing player must try to catch volley in cone after one bounce.

After 10 tosses, players switch roles.