Global Sports: Tennis Drills Varieties

Monday, August 15, 2011

Tennis Drills Varieties

By William Shelley


Tennis drills are widely-used by tennis players of most levels. Tennis drills being used for many reasons. The most effective tennis practice drills provide repetition, match experience, and fun. They can also be employed to enhance footwork and endurance. By the day tennis coaches across the globe seek to develop new tennis drills for beginners as well as advanced players. There are two main different kinds of tennis training drills which are used today.

The picture that comes to mind when one thinks of tennis drills is an instructor constantly feeding balls to a group of people. This kind of tennis drill is called "dead-ball drill". Though it's still used today, it is probably not the most effective way to prepare students for matches. Players only hit one or just a few balls every so often, and they don't engage in a point. Players who practice "dead-ball drills" excessively perform really poorly in matches. It's mostly because the instructor feeds the balls perfectly to the students. Consistent feeds prevent players from adjusting to different varieties of balls. "Dead-ball drills" however are the most effective types of footwork drills. They can keep a large number of players moving if they are designed well. Cardio tennis drills are great examples of the fitness benefit of well designed tennis drills. "Dead-ball drills" also make great beginner drills given that the most effective way to master proper tennis technique at first is by repetition.

The best quality and in some cases most popular forms of drills are live drills. Usually the instructor or even a player puts the ball in play and the point is played out. Live tennis drills also have a purpose or goal that the players seek to achieve. Sometimes the goal is to simply win the drill. In other cases participants cooperate to reach a common goal such as keeping the ball in play for a specific amount of shots. Tennis drill experts debate to this day whether competitive or cooperative tennis drills are more effective. The actual answer is probably a good mixture of both types of tennis drills.

Properly designed tennis drills also provide the most important ingredient that is fun. Every tennis coach should attempt to make drills game-like and engaging. Boring and mundane tennis drills can drive any player to certain burn-out. It's important for instructors to maintain the attention and interest of students with fresh tennis drills and games. It's always challenging for tennis instructors to think of new tennis drills time and time again. Tennis coaches are usually not wanting to share their drills and keep them to themselves. This is very counterproductive. All tennis pros would benefit from sharing their knowledge instead of guarding it.

Tennis coaches have to discover fresh drills to make their classes more interesting. They must expand their arsenal of drills to be better teachers. The more tennis exercises a tennis instructor knows, the more tennis players he or she will attract.




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