I was a little bit late showing up for the drill clinic so I got started right away with a bunch of our normal drills. Dinks, some more dinks, drops and some more drops.
Last week I spoke to one of my friends who is always willing to drill with me and we tossed around some ideas of different drills to do. She told me when she did tennis clinics in the past people really liked being fed balls and told me about a drill she would do that worked well. When she mentioned it I was reminded of a drill I would do when I first started playing and did Friday night lessons at my favorite local rec center.
I had to hustle to be late today and because of that I left without my drill notebook. I had a moment of panic while driving because I realized I didn’t have it. Then I remembered I can’t read it anyway because I don’t wear my old lady reading glasses when I’m on the court. I decided without my list I would go ahead and try some of the feeding drills my friend and I had discussed.
Basically I gave them 3 shots to do, 1 at the baseline, 1 at the transition zone, 1 at the kitchen. The first set of 3 was a drive, a drop and a lob. The second set was a baseline drop, a transition zone block/reset in the kitchen, and an attack.
I gave them visual targets to shoot for, especially for the drive. Everyone did well and the lobs were mesmerizing to watch. My biggest concern with feeding balls is people are standing around waiting for their turn. But I don’t think that bothered anyone. They seemed to like the drills a lot and I was able to watch them closely.
I did struggle giving them a proper attackable ball at the kitchen. From my playing perspective I guess that’s a good thing but I wish I could have figured out a consistent way to tee up those shots. Probably the wildest thing with the attack ball was my blatant attempt to feed them forehand put-aways and most of them did backhands. It’s a drill clinic and not a lesson but I couldn’t help but point out the option to do a forehand.
To close out the session we did the kitchen game – every third shot had to be a drop or it was a side out. Initially it was a challenge for people to grasp doing the drop but once they started talking to each other, reminding their partner to do a drop, the game played out nicely. They were able to practice their drops and attacks in a game and it was rewarding to see their progress play out on the court.
When our session ended I ran into one of my friends I haven’t seen in a while. I gave her a big old hug and with me being well known as not-a-hugger we laughed and smiled at the gesture. I guess I should probably thank my parents for hugging me every time I see them, otherwise I would have no human touch in my life at all. Anyway, she told me to keep writing my journal and to write about her so this is my follow through. Thanks for the hug, Beth!
