Nine Lives Backhand Lesson

When I blogged about the Nine Lives game recently, I mentioned how easy it would be to adapt it to a variety of situations. Here's one I used recently for my red ball class. Beware, it's the mother of all progression drills, so adjust accordingly. You will need some clothes pins.

Pick a skill, any skill, that you want to work on. Recently it was a backhand day. So I used Nine Lives like this.

Players count out nine pins and pin them to the top of the net. Players stand at the T in the backhand position. Coach hand-feeds backhands to players from close proximity. One pin is removed each time the backhand is hit into play. Goal is to remove all pins. When this is done, end Round 1 and get a drink. Pick up balls if necessary.

Round 2: get nine more pins and pin on net. Move players back to baseline and repeat.

Round 3: you guessed it - nine more pins. Coach moves to other side of court across net, but still feeding by hand. Repeat.

Round 4: More pins! Players now start from ready position at baseline. Repeat.

Round 5: More pins! For the final round, coach feeds with racquet instead of by hand. Repeat.

You should have a pretty good stack of pins by now, 45 if my multiplication skills have not completely deserted me. You can do some fun stuff with the pins your players are accumulating, such as:

• For group fun, just make a big pile of them somewhere to be admired and counted after the lesson.
• For a more competitive spin, have each player put any pin they earn onto their shirt. Player with most pins at end of lesson wins.
• For the Lego crowd, let them make something creative with the pins. This student made a dragon.
  

Backhand Rally

Here's the first of several drills from the recent USTA South Carolina coaches workshop at Cayce

Tennis & Fitness Center. This one is from Lauren Stewart, tennis pro at The Woodlands in Columbia SC.

Lauren's presentation was about drills for womens' teams of various levels. But I found all could easily be adapted for junior players.

Lauren had her drills organized by playing level: 2.5, 3.0-3.5, and 4.0. She said 2.5s often struggle with or avoid hitting their backhands, so she suggested this drill to build skill and confidence.

Partners pair up across the net from each other, behind the service line. One player may only hit backhands. The other may hit any shot they like. Players rally straight ahead. Ball must land in service box. If the designated backhand hitter hits something other than a backhand, that's a point for the other player. First to X points wins. Round Two: switch to hitting cross court.

Progression: move farther back or switch to a faster ball. For examply if you are hitting orange ball, change to green.

Forehand-Backhand

I love it when my students suggest tennis activities. Thanks Will C. for sharing this one. I used it recently in an adult beginner clinic focusing on backhands and loved how it dovetailed with the backhand lesson. It's simple, which I also love. You will need at least two players.

One player is bounce feeding; the other is returning. Feeding player calls out 'forehand' or 'backhand' quickly, before fed ball crosses net. Returning player must hit whatever stroke was just called by feeding player. When we played this we played mini tennis (service line) but it could also work well from the baseline.

Scoring strategies: Will suggested scoring first to 7 points, then switch. If the point continues past the feed, EVERY ball hit must be accompanied by a stroke command (Forehand or Backhand), so the returning player can get in on the fun as well even though they don't get to feed (yet).

When I used this in the adult class, I didn't do it by points earned. Instead I gave every player 5 balls and rotated them around, giving everyone equal opportunities to feed as well as return.

At first this game may seem to be more of a learning opportunity for the returning player, to work on tracking the ball quickly and improving their footwork. It is, but as you play this, you may find it is equally a challenge for the feeding player. You will see their mental wheels spinning as the plot where to feed the ball and what stroke to require from their opponent. It's a win-win!

4 Ball

4 Ball is a drill I found on a PTR DVD entitled Effective Feeding Techniques featuring the Director of Sports in the Norwegian Tennis Federation, Oivind Sorvald. It's good for groups of 3 or more. In the video, Oivind had four students. Could be used as a warm-up or as part of the lesson.

Two players play singles straight ahead on one half of the court, focusing on keeping the rally going. Other players are on the other half of the court at the baseline. Coach is across the net feeding balls. These players take turn hitting four balls with Coach, alternating forehands and backhands. Once four balls are hit, next player comes in for their turn. When all players on Coach's side have had their turn hitting the four alternating balls, two of them trade places with the players who have been playing half court singles.

Mr. Sorvald second from left in glasses.
PTR recently partnered with the NorwegianTennis Federation
to provide educational services to coaches. BTW that's my boss
Jorge Andrew next to Mr. Sorvald in the middle.

Figure 8

Tennis students don't get too far into the basics without getting introduced to the Figure 8 footwork drill. You probably know the one - two spots are on the ground about 3 feet apart. You move around them in a figure 8 pattern with small but quick adjusting steps to improve your footwork. If you're ready to take this activity to the next level, try it with a medicine ball.

Student performs the footwork as described above. When they get to the forehand or backhand side of the 8, coach tosses them a medicine ball to the FH or BH side. They catch it with both hands, and toss it back from the side with both hands on the ball. This sideways, two-handed throwing simulates the FH and BH swing pattern. Confused? Check out a video of the exercise here. Thanks crazytennismom.com for the tip. You can find her blog there, or follow her on FB, or on Twitter @sandratennismom.