Net Monster

I stole this game from Steve Ghelardini. He was on the court next to me at a recent Junior Tennis

JTL has been running summer youth tennis leagues for
a looooooong time in the Columbia SC area

League (JTL) Jamboree at the Lexington County (SC) Tennis Complex. We were all tasked with running a fun tennis activity on our courts. We had a different group of players rotating through every 20 minutes.

Steve's activity was a variation on the tennis drill evergreen Jail Break/Dogpound. I have taken the liberty of renaming it because Steve was indeed a Net Monster and really made this game a challenge, especially for the higher level players.

Coach stands near the net feeding balls to players at the baseline. Player must hit safely to remain in hitting line. Players not hitting safely cross to other end of court, put down racquets, and try to regain their place in the hitting line by catching a hit ball in air. Last remaining player in hitting line hitting safely, wins.

About now you are thinking, how is this different from Jail Break/Dogpound? It's different because Steve took an active role as feeder, intercepting any balls he had a play on at the net. So the hitters had to get their balls by Steve which was no easy feat - Steve is a Net Monster.

C'mon, coaches - you know you are itching to hit those easy balls when you are playing Jail Break. So go ahead!