In today’s video/blog we’re going to show you the most challenging drill.
We’re going to show you the drill in three different progressions.
This drill is going to work on a variety of things. It’s going to work on your shot accuracy, on your dinks, your third shots, your movement to the ball, hitting the ball on the move and your recovery.
It’s also going to get that cardio going because it’s a really tough drill and it could get really tiring.
Dinks
Progression #1 – Two Dinks & Move
*First you will have a staring position on the even side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the odd side…Then, you’ll switch to starting position on the odd side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the even side*
Alright, so I’m at the kitchen line across from Katrina who is on the other side at her kitchen line.
She’s going to start feeding me the ball down the line.
This is the first progression and this is going to work on dinks.
How this works is that she’s going to feed me the first ball, I’m going to hit my first dink and then she’s gonna hit me back a dink and I’m going to hit my second dink. After my second dink I’m going to quickly move to the other side of the court, the odd side of the court, so that I can hit a ball on that side.
Now, every two balls she’s going to move it to the opposite side of the court.
This is going to really work on your movement, getting to the ball, and also it’s going to work on your shot accuracy.
We’re going to do the same thing where she feeds the ball down the line on the odd side.
Progression #2 – One Dink & Move
*First you will have a staring position on the even side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the odd side…Then, you’ll switch to starting position on the odd side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the even side)*
Now let’s jump into the second progression. In this one she’s going to feed and dink me the ball.
Right after my first dink, she’s going to send it to the opposite side of the court.
This one’s going to be a lot more movement and this is really good because it’s going to work on your placement on the run.
If you can get there early that’s what you want to do.
One thing I do want to mention before we move on here is that you do want to make your partner work hard but you don’t want to work them too hard past their mobility and their ability to get to the ball.
As you get better and as your mobility increases then you can start making it harder and harder on your opponent.
Progression #3 – Live Ball
*Start position will be in the middle of the court with hitting target (Katrina) on odd side…Then, switch it up to starting position in the middle of the court with a hitting target (Katrina) on even side*
Now let’s jump into the third progression. This is definitely the most difficult.
Katrina is going to feed the ball and she’s going to have the entire kitchen to work with so I have to make sure that I’m covering the whole non-volley zone.
She’s going to start on one side and I’m going to stand here in the middle of the court. After that it’s a live ball and she can place the ball anywhere she wants.
This is going to work on her dinks and her dink placement as well trying to go behind me and also trying to hit away from me.
It’s a really good drill for both of you.
That was the three progressions with dinking.
Now we’re going to move on to the third shot drop.
Third Shot Drop
First, I just really want to talk about how important it is to learn how to slow down the ball so that you can get into a good position.
When you’re playing singles or doubles, anytime that you’re on the defense or you’re stretched or you’re reaching, you really want to do your best to hit a slow ball, preferably in the kitchen to buy you time so that you can get into position for the next ball.
We’re here at the baseline, we’re going to go over those three progressions one by one.
Progression #1 – Two Drops & Move
*First you will have a staring position on the even side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the odd side…Then, you’ll switch to starting position on the odd side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the even side*
With the first one, Katrina’s going to feed me a ball, I’m going to hit one third shot, she’s gonna hit it deep and try to keep me back and then I’m going to hit that second third shot and the next ball she’s going to hit is going to be on the opposite end.
So, every two balls I’m going to switch to the other side and try to hit as many consistent balls and stay in the point.
I just really want to be as consistent as I can and I want to give myself enough margin over the net.
Progression #2 – One Drop & Move
*First you will have a staring position on the even side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the odd side…Then, you’ll switch to starting position on the odd side with your hitting target (Katrina) on the even side)*
Now let’s jump into the second progression. Katrina’s going to feed the ball deep, I’m going to hit my third shot and quickly move to the other side after every ball.
Hopefully that shows you the importance of really drilling this shot. Sometimes I’ll even loft the ball and try to give that ball a little bit more hang time so that I can get in the correct position on the next ball.
This is really key in doubles. You find yourself on the defense a lot of times and putting that ball up in the air, giving it a little bit more hang time, so that you can get in the right position and at the same time forcing your opponent to have a low contact point is really good.
Progression #3 – Live Ball
*Start position will be in the middle of the court with hitting target (Katrina) on odd side…Then, switch it up to starting position in the middle of the court with a hitting target (Katrina) on even side*
Let’s jump into the third progression of this super challenging drill.
For this third progression, like you’ve seen in the dinks, I’m going to start in the middle of the court and she’s going to feed me the ball, and it’s fair game, she has the whole entire court to work with.
This is a great drill for singles but also it’s a really good drill for doubles when you’re on the defense and just trying to dig out balls and stay in the point as much as you can.
This a really really challenging drill but I think it works on so many good aspects of the game and it can really get you better.
We really hope you enjoyed this video/blog and we’ll see you in the next one!