Group practice routines

A group of us are having weekly sessions with our club coach, and we want to change the format from bootcamp routines to dedicated sessions.

By that, I mean week 1 could be dedicated to serving and receiving - so, the coach would have a short introduction on different placements / spins / speeds for a first or second serve, and whether it's singles or doubles, and then we can have a go at those variations with a practice partner and some target cones; and likewise for receiving, again depending on whether it's singles or doubles, forehand or backhand, etc. Then on week 2 we could focus on approaching and volleying. Week 3 could be about consistent rallying (when to stay cross-court, when to change direction, running around). And so on.

The overall idea is that, over one or two months, people can go through the whole repertoire of strokes, and the coach can run the same "course" but at different intensities to cater for differing club player standards. Then, as people improve, they can move up to a higher intensity group.

I have done a search of the TW site but haven't found anything along the above lines. It sounds to me like the sort of thing you'd do if you attended a week's camp at Bolletieri's (or a similar academy set-up), only repackaged in a "2 hours / week over 6 weeks" format. Do any of you have any ideas as to where I can find examples of this kind of coaching structure, ideally with examples of the routines for each specific session? Thanks!

No ideas?

Given the huge tennis talent that we gather in this forum, does this mean nobody has spent a week's holiday at a tennis camp somewhere?

Or was the experience such a waste of time/money that it's not worth modelling practice sessions on? If so, then do let me know (and save me some dough) since I'm thinking of spending a week in the spring somewhere where they run a course on clay.

I amazed that this thread went unanswered .... wow !

Where is BB and KK and all the other coaches here ?

naylor said:

A group of us are having weekly sessions with our club coach, and we want to change the format from bootcamp routines to dedicated sessions.

By that, I mean week 1 could be dedicated to serving and receiving - so, the coach would have a short introduction on different placements / spins / speeds for a first or second serve, and whether it's singles or doubles, and then we can have a go at those variations with a practice partner and some target cones; and likewise for receiving, again depending on whether it's singles or doubles, forehand or backhand, etc. Then on week 2 we could focus on approaching and volleying. Week 3 could be about consistent rallying (when to stay cross-court, when to change direction, running around). And so on.

The overall idea is that, over one or two months, people can go through the whole repertoire of strokes, and the coach can run the same "course" but at different intensities to cater for differing club player standards. Then, as people improve, they can move up to a higher intensity group.

I have done a search of the TW site but haven't found anything along the above lines. It sounds to me like the sort of thing you'd do if you attended a week's camp at Bolletieri's (or a similar academy set-up), only repackaged in a "2 hours / week over 6 weeks" format. Do any of you have any ideas as to where I can find examples of this kind of coaching structure, ideally with examples of the routines for each specific session? Thanks!

Click to expand...

I think what you have in the paragraph in the bold sounds great...have you taken this to your pro?

It sounds very much like a clinic I am taking...the whole session is 12 weeks long, but it is not the same thing every week (like some other clinics that I have that not only bore me to tears, but also don't really help me improve). From our very first lesson and session to now, we have started with some very basic techniques and footwork, and are now adding and building onto that...and every so often we do a drill that pulls everything all together. This type of sequential teaching/learning is so much more beneficial than doing the same drills, week after week...ugh, I could go on and on, but I will spare you.

It takes a dedicated instructor, though...if everyone in your lesson agrees to the format, hopefully your coach has the ability to see it through for you guys.

I think your club Pro's could come up with their own programs. After all, there's only so many strokes. Serve, return, baseline forehand and backhand, volleys, dropshots, lobs, you get the idea. They can mix in stuff like serve and volley, when to go cross-court vs down-the-line.

But, since you requested, here's something I cut and pasted from the Bollittieri site.

================================
Daily Session

Monday - System 5 Training
AM Focus: Neutral Offense & defense skills, Counter-Attack Skills
PM Focus: 1-1/2 Hours of full swing

Tuesday - Technical Skills
AM Focus: Ground strokes, Speciality Shots
PM Focus: Drop shots, lobs

Wednesday - Footwork
AM Focus: Balance, posture, recovery, Attacking Skills
PM Focus: Volley, overhead, short balls

Thursday - Station Rotation
AM Focus: Forehand, backhand, overhead, serve, returns, Singles
PM Focus: Depth, placement, patterns

Friday - Serve
AM Focus: First & second serve, placement, spin, Doubles
PM Focus: Positioning, volleys, returns

Saturday - Station Rotation
AM Focus: Forehand, backhand, overhead, serve, Footwork
PM Focus: Recovery & crossover step

Sunday - Attacking Skills
AM Focus: Attacking movement & Weaknesses, Defensive Skills
PM Focus: Recovery & crossover step

Exactly what we want to do

Topaz said:

I think what you have in the paragraph in the bold sounds great...have you taken this to your pro?
It sounds very much like a clinic I am taking...the whole session is 12 weeks long, but it is not the same thing every week (like some other clinics that I have that not only bore me to tears, but also don't really help me improve). From our very first lesson and session to now, we have started with some very basic techniques and footwork, and are now adding and building onto that...and every so often we do a drill that pulls everything all together. This type of sequential teaching/learning is so much more beneficial than doing the same drills, week after week...ugh, I could go on and on, but I will spare you.
It takes a dedicated instructor, though...if everyone in your lesson agrees to the format, hopefully your coach has the ability to see it through for you guys.

Click to expand...

Agreed. The bootcamp sessions we do are always the same routines, which is why we want to change the format to a course/clinic like yours. Our club's Director of Tennis is pushing for the change, and I'm just trying to get and feed in some ideas as to the sort of things we could slot into which weeks to create a good progression.

Part of the idea also is to "sweat" our club coach - we give him the programme, he then has to fill it in with the coaching bits and find relevant drills for each session. Otherwise, life's too easy just feeding balls for "king of the castle" week after week!!! But if you look at it the other way, if he does it well then he's got a good recipe for running courses at various playing standards, and earn good money from a much broader cross-section of members.

Naylor, I will try to point Sup2Dresq to this thread...as he is the teaching pro I'm talking about...he even does lesson plans (which, since I'm a teacher, I can very much appreciate!). Hopefully he can give some insight as to how he came up with the sequences and put them together.

Thanks, Topaz & GeezerGuy

Topaz - sorry, I was very dense above, I took your comment but forgot the obvious, namely, ask you to kindly tell us more about your 12-week programme, what you've done in the weeks gone already, what's to come - thanks!

GeezerGuy - thanks man, I thought they didn't put things like that on their websites, I'll check a few more. I did look at the Spanish ones (Casals, Ferrero's, etc) a while back and there was nothing of the sort - maybe it's because they're Spanish so they're waiting for "mañana" to add useful details like that (I'm Spanish myself, so I can make light-hearted comments like that!).

Anyone else? Cheers!

naylor said:

Topaz - sorry, I was very dense above, I took your comment but forgot the obvious, namely, ask you to kindly tell us more about your 12-week programme, what you've done in the weeks gone already, what's to come - thanks!

GeezerGuy - thanks man, I thought they didn't put things like that on their websites, I'll check a few more. I did look at the Spanish ones (Casals, Ferrero's, etc) a while back and there was nothing of the sort - maybe it's because they're Spanish so they're waiting for "mañana" to add useful details like that (I'm Spanish myself, so I can make light-hearted comments like that!).

Anyone else? Cheers!

Click to expand...

Oh no, no offense! LOL I didn't think you were being dense, I just thought that Sup might be able to give a better look into it.

I will try to answer in depth a bit later...don't quite have the time at the moment. But again, it sounds like you guys (gals?) are on the right track with what you already have in mind!

Topaz said:

Oh no, no offense! LOL I didn't think you were being dense, I just thought that Sup might be able to give a better look into it.
I will try to answer in depth a bit later...don't quite have the time at the moment. But again, it sounds like you guys (gals?) are on the right track with what you already have in mind!

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, Topaz, do it when you can fit it in. And yes, we do have one or two gals in the group. The standard or our group is about 4th club mens' team (1st team is the top NZ interclub side, so current or ex-Davis Cup players; 2nd team is their reserves, so aspiring youngsters bred or brought into the club for future potential; 3rd team is the best "club players", we come next so it's improving younger members past junior stage and some of us oldies that still play competitive but need to keep working at getting better to keep up with the younger lot). Our women are not as strong overall, so the one or two that play are the younger 2nd team players - standardwise, the gals fit quite well.

I wanted to contact you....

Thank You for your answer to my post about having problems with tightening my arm while hitting my forehand.

The way you explained is awesome. I always asked myself which way should i hit the ball , closed or open stance? i could not figure out which one is best for me. Now i feel like i need to work on closed stance, since it will help me with my preparation.

That is why i don't like taking too many lessons, i have never had a coach that can point out things like that. They know what is going on i think. It is that they don't want to tell you? or they just don't know how to teach?

Are you a coach?? There is way i can answer some questions to you about my technique if i need? WHat is your level? do you play for fun? coach?.....

Thank You
Oldracquet27 (njcnjc2727@yahoo.com)

Oldracquet27 said:

That is why i don't like taking too many lessons, i have never had a coach that can point out things like that. They know what is going on i think. It is that they don't want to tell you? or they just don't know how to teach?

Oldracquet27 (njcnjc2727@yahoo.com)

Click to expand...

As a figure skating coach who took from a lot of different coaches across the country I came into tennis later in life and took from a number of coaches before I found one whose personality and hitting style was a good blend with my physical attributes and personality.

Personally, I believe that all coaches want to teach well. That is why they went into teaching.

But there is a vast assortment of perceptual skills and patience levels etc., etc. from coach to coach. some coaches are great, others are mediocre. the only way you can determine that is to get some experience with taking lessons from various coaches. when you find someone you really click with, from my experience you'll know it in the first lesson ...

I also think that people can only teach themselves to a certain point, and to have a professional trained eye is very valuable. hence why the very best players in the world have coaches ....

this is just my personal opinion and I hope not to get flamed by a ton of coaches ....