Fruit Salad

I came up with this game on the spur of the moment recently when I had a mix of playing levels in class. It was a big hit. Fill a hopper with a mix of red, orange, green and yellow balls. If you have foam balls, yes, add those also. Play either mini tennis or Squirrel Crossing depending on the number of players. Coach feeds first ball quickly. Players must adjust their game quickly also to whichever ball is fed. If you are playing mini tennis with an even number of players and therefore no need for player rotation, give each player 10 points and take one away each time an error is made. Last one standing is the winner. If you are playing Squirrel Crossing, no need for points, just play until the basket is empty.

Three Rallies

Here's another great consistency drill from Daniel Spatz. Simple, no extra equipment needed, and you can work on it as long as you have time for.

The goal is simple: ask your player to complete three rallies, five times in a row. If you have time, keep working on this until the goal is met. If you have a large group or limited time, keep track of how many times the student is able to complete the task. Once? Twice? None? Either way you have a simple but achievable goal for them to work on.

This would also be a great warm-up activity between players for larger groups. Have all working on this as a singles drill. First court to complete it successfully wins, and signals the end of the warm-up period.

Master and Servant

Sometimes it's hard to tell
who is in charge

This drill is for more advanced players. They will need to be able to rally as well as direct the ball. I saw it on the ProTennisDrills.net website.

Two players play singles against each other, beginning on respective deuce halves of court. One player is Master; the other is of course Servant. Coach feeds first ball to Master. Master must hit shots to Servant alternating between deuce and ad sides. Servant may only hit back to Master at deuce side. First player to 15 points wins. Switch roles. After both players have had a chance to play both roles, switch to ad side of court and repeat.

As you have probably figured out, the Servant will be doing a lot more running!

Progression
Easier: for young beginners, have them tossing and catching the balls rather than hitting with racquets.
Harder: require X number of rallies before points are awarded.

5 Ball

Daniel Spatz

Here's a simple drill to improve consistency. I saw it at Daniel Spatz' YouTube channel so click here if you want to see the entire video - it's only 6 minutes or so.

Coach feeds balls from across net. The goal is for the player to hit 30 rallies. Coach gives them 5 balls to complete this task. So for example let's say coach feeds first ball, player hits it back to coach twice before  making an error. This counts as two points, and the coach then feeds the second of the five balls.

Progression
Easier: reduce total number of rallies (from 30 to 20 or 10); or increase number of chances from 5 balls to 7, 10, etc.)
Harder: just the opposite - ask for more rallies or allow fewer chances

Variation

• Ask for all forehands, or all cross court, or whatever shot you are working on.
• Have students work on this together as a singles activity, no coach feeding necessary.

OUT

Miss three and: SEE YA!

OUT is another variation of Tag Team Tennis aka Relay Tennis. Great for just about any ability level, large groups, odd numbers.

Divide players into two teams. They play singles against each other, one player at a time, one ball at a time. So for example, with Team A vs Team B, the first player of Team A is fed a ball. He/she hits the ball across the net and runs to the end of his/her line so that the second player can step in and play the ball returned by Team B's first player. So all players 'hit and run', as I like to tell my students.

Here's the twist: if a player misses, they get a letter. First time: letter O. Second time: letter U. And you can probably see where this is going: if a player gets the third letter, T, they are O-U-T and sit out while the game continues. Last player left standing wins.

Opportunity Knocks

Opportunity Knocks trains players to exploit the opportunity they create by driving the opponent off the net with a well-hit lob. Advanced beginners and up. Minimum 4 players.

Play begins with one doubles team at net and the other at baseline. Coach feeds first ball to baseline team. When baseline team is at baseline, they may only lob - no passing shots. If their lob is successful, they should move forward to exploit their opportunity as their opponents are moving back to retrieve and play the lobbed ball. First team to 21 wins.

Adapted from The Tennis Drill Book by Tina Hoskins

Moon Ball

Moon Ball is a fun and useful activity for groups of 6 or more, advanced beginners and up. It will improve lobbing, overhead, and net play skills.

Divide players into teams of 3 or more. Six players at a time are on court, three at each end of court.  If you have odd numbers, that's fine - all will get a chance to rotate in. Two are at the baseline and the third is in the middle of the net. The two players at each baseline may only hit lobs, or 'moon balls'. Coach is at net post feeding first ball to baseline player. Players play out the point. The object is to avoid the net players. The net players may not retreat past the service line.  Rotate positions after every point so that all players have a chance to play both net and lob positions. First team to 21 wins.

Adapted from The Tennis Drill Book by Tina Hoskins.