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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Thank You, Jeeves

Thank You, Jeeves is a serve warm-up. You will need at least four players.

Pair players into teams of two. Place four balls on the ground on each side of court. Points are not played out so you can put them wherever you want as long as they are on the same location on both sides of court so as not to give one team an advantage. You want them some difference from traditional serving position. Suggest in alley near service line, at T, at net, etc.

First player from each team serves; server then runs to get a ball from their own team's pile and give it to the next server. First team to run out of balls wins. Notice they are not playing out points, just serving and then running to the ball pile and back.

Best two out of three wins. While speed is important, it is also important for playeres to maintain good quality technique here. Note the points are not played out. Just serve and go.

Variations

  • Increase the number of players on each team. Even numbers preferred but if not possible, the team with the extra player will just have to serve quicker!
  • Change # of balls
  • Change location of where balls are stored on court
Update:
I used Thank You, Jeeves recently in two different small groups, with only two players each. It worked GREAT as a serve warm-up and I will def be using it again in future. Here's my tweak for uber small groups: the two players compete to see who can earn 7 points first (one point for each correct serve). Earning points for each good serve motivates them to hit quality serves. Played it once on each half of court so both players have a chance to win. By the time they finished two rounds they were def warmed up and ready for some match play. I also insisted they say 'Thank you, Jeeves' each time they were handed a ball. They got a huge kick out of that.

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