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Tennis: Good court positioning

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DESCRIPTION

-Learning correct positions enhances court coverage and enables the player to respond to the most likely shot placements by the opponent.
-Place 4 markers in a diamond shape around the centre of the baseline. Start by the coach telling the player to move to a correct marker after each shot.(Using forward, back, left, right commands.

COACHING POINTS

Explain that after they hit a deep shot they should move to the front marker, if they hit a shot out wide they should move to the opposite side marker, and after they hit a short shot they should move to the back marker.

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OFTEN USED WITH...

Ground stroke consistency:

-Players hit ground strokes in pairs until one of them makes a mistake. The waiting player(s) come in if mistake is made.
-After 5 minutes the winners are the players with the longest rally.
-More advanced players can be given target areas to hit to.

Rally Drills

Cross-court rally game with winners:

Players get into pairs. Each pair takes on another pair in a cross court competition. Players take it in turns to hit the ball deep into the coned area.

Every time a ball is hit short the receiving player can hit a winner down the line to score a point.

The players who hit the short ball can try to recover and return the down the line winner. If they manage to return the shot they do not lose a point.

Next rally starts again.

Rally Drills

Groundstrokes, Inside-out forehands:

-Players work on ground strokes and depth, aiming to hit beyond the service line.Possibly put targets down.
-After rotations, swap to backhand.
- Players no.1 and no.6 can hit inside-out forehands depending on ability.

Rally Drills

Forehand to forehand team tram line drill:

Players get into pairs. Each pair plays against another pair rallying inside the tram line.

The two players rotate in each team, taking it in turns to hit the ball using only their forehand. Every time the ball stays inside the tram lines they score a point

The first pair to score 10 is the winner.

Rally Drills

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