Fast Lane Tennis
Drill #1
Join the Wars on Cones
I wanted to share this first exercise concept to try and get more-and-more players and coaches alike to join what I like to call The Wars on Cones.
Now do not get me wrong, cones are not always a bad practice tool, but as you will soon see, setting up a single cone and trying to hit it can doom a player to failure or relying on total luck. In this section we will look at some creative ways to create groups of cones so that players can hit them because there are realistic targets, plus they are colorful and make a lot of noise when they are hit.
Here we have set up a group cones in the deep cross-court area as a fairly large target. Depending on the level of the players, setup enough cones so that about one out of every three shots comes close and about two out of every ten stands a very good chance of hitting a cone.
For Kalindy I generally setup 15-20 cones for this type of drill. It helps her keep focused and we keep track of how many cones in each practice session she can hit. In a good session she can end up hitting about 25 cones in an hour. Drills of this type are very repetitive and otherwise can be boring. With Kalindy however we have used techniques like this. To be able to keep her focus quite high considering her age and ability.
Another way to use cones is to create zones. In this exercise we have created down the line and cross-court target zones and are playing the tree drill. I stand in the middle of the court and stay rooted like a tree. I cannot move my feet but I can reach with my racquet as far as possible to try and win points.
I give her two points for hitting inside the zone on either side, but I take away two points if she hits into the net. All other points are worth a single point, and we play until one of us wins 21 points.
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