Center Field

photo from here

Thanks to George Estes for this drill. George is a fellow teaching pro at Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center. His students are mostly adults, but this drill will work for junior advanced beginners and up when working on lobs and doubles. Perfect for when you have five or six players but don't want anyone standing idle.

Four players take regular doubles position on court. Fifth/sixth players stand behind baseline. These baseline players' only job is to play any lobs or feed lobs to start point.  If you only have five, coach is sixth player behind baseline, starting each point with a lob. If six, one of the two lob/baseline players starts the point with a lob.

Scoring strategy of your choice. First to X, best two out of three works well for most court drills.

Approach Drill

Mining Oliver Stephens' recent article in TennisPro Magazine for all it is worth! Here's a twist on a

dead ball drill that Stephens feels makes it more realistic for working on approaching the net. Players should be able to rally with a variety of shots, so advanced beginner and higher.

Two players begin at the baseline. One bounce-feeds a ball and follows it in to the net. This player's job is to become comfortable following a ball in and works on his/her volleys and overheads.

The other player should hit the first three rallies as follows: two ground strokes, then a defensive lob (ideally playable by net player).

I have tried this drill and like it. I have found my non-feeding players tend to tighten up when they see the opponent charging into the net from the baseline. Teaching opportunity: to have them hit quality ground strokes as if the opponent were still at the baseline.

Double Trouble

Double Trouble originally was a ball machine drill suggested in TennisPro Magazine by Inaki Balzola, PTR's International Director. It's a great doubles drill for large groups. Players should be able to rally.

One player is at ad side baseline; coach is at same baseline on deuce side. All other players are at the net post. Coach feeds first ball to first player waiting at net post. This player volleys the ball back toward the coach. Coach feeds second ball cross court; same player must run and volley toward player waiting at baseline.

Player at baseline lobs this volley over net player. Net player runs down the lob, returns it with a lob of their own, goes to end of player line. Note baseline player does not have to play this ball. Coach then stars the process all over again with next player waiting in line.

Continue for a set time or until X amount of lobs have been hit by either player; then rotate a different player into the baseline position.

Variation
Eliminate first fed volley; volleying player only gets one ball fed before baseline player returns it with a lob.

Loblolly

Of course I found this on a TX website
a TX loblolly aka mud hole

Another one from Daniel Breag - he did not give it a specific name so I will harken back to my rural roots. So simple - tennis face palm moment.

Four players are in, all at baseline. One end of court can hit nothing but lobs. Great for working on overheads and defending against them. Structure it however you like. For example:

Variations

• First team to X points wins; switch ends; best 2 of 3.
• First team to hit X winning overheads wins.
• First team to hit X unreturned lobs wins. 
• For groups larger than 4, divide into teams, have players rotating in after every point. Timed intervals; team who is ahead at end of time, wins. 

High Five

The March/April 2013 edition of Tennis magazine's How-To article describes a shot called High Five.

Overheads are not for everyone
Purchase this poster here.

It is described as 'the perfect response to a well-executed lob'. Considering this magazine's readers likely are adult players, I found this description a little overblown. I would re-word it as 'another option for returning a well-executed lob'. Hasn't sold me yet on the 'perfect response' part.

However.

I could be persuaded that this shot is a 'perfect response' if you are a younger player having difficulty with timing and running down a good lob in such a way to hit a quality ground return! I tried it out on a couple of classes recently with very good results. In many ways it is much less complicated than teaching young players how to hit an overhead response on a lob, so I suggest you use it as a progression to the overhead.

Feed a high, deep ball to a player who is starting at the T. They should adjust their court position so that the ball is above and out in front of them, similar to where they would be if hitting an overhead. But instead of using a serving motion to send the ball back over they net, they should flatten the racquet (into the 'tray table' position) and punch it straight up into the bottom of the ball. This should send the ball in a lob-like path safely back over the net, allowing the player one more chance to stay in the rally.

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.

The Lob - easy as 1, 2, 3

Wildwood RC has some tips on the bunt lob

So many tennis students spend their clinic time grinding out ground strokes. While important, players should not live by groundies alone. Encourage your students to build an all-court game by introducing them to other shots like volleys, overheads and lobs. Here's an easy exercise to hone their lobbing skills. This is from a QuickStart coaches resource booklet.

You will need three players, or two players and a coach feeding balls. Station one player at each baseline and a third (or the coach) at the net as feeder. Feeder underhand tossed ball to baseline player across net. Baseline player hits lob over feeder's head. Other baseline player catches after one bounce. Rotate positions so that everyone gets a turn at lobbing or catching.