Any Roadmap of Drills/Practice Using My Ball Machine???

[Eddie G]

Hi guys,

So for coaches or experienced players out there who have used ball machines to improve their game. Are there any particular drills and progressions I can leverage to improve my game using a ball machine instead of just doing a guessing game playing with the different machine settings? The name of my ball machine is the Lobster Elite Grand IV. So far I've just been using it for focused drills such as Single Handed BH, Forehand, then practicing volleying. I got a feeling though there might be a roadmap of some kind of in using it to build your tennis game to the expert level instead of just randomly using the various features and functions to practice and drill. As always all suggestions, tips, comments are super appreciated.

 

[socallefty]

Take a lesson, work on one or two technique improvements. Then, go and practice those on your ball machine. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Eddie G]

I was kind of hoping to get suggestions on ball-machine specific lessons.

 

[mad dog1]

I was kind of hoping to get suggestions on ball-machine specific lessons.

I’ve never seen a ball machine with AI giving lessons.

 

[ballmachineguy]

Unless you are a 4.5+, now is the time to tinker with the stroke mechanics. Ball machine don’t care if you hit 40 ball is in a row right into the net while trying to hit a better backhand. Neither does a honey badger, but try to get one of them to feed you balls.

 

[Eddie G]

Can I ask what "stroke mechanics" is pls @ballmachineguy

 

[Shroud]

Hi guys,

So for coaches or experienced players out there who have used ball machines to improve their game. Are there any particular drills and progressions I can leverage to improve my game using a ball machine instead of just doing a guessing game playing with the different machine settings? The name of my ball machine is the Lobster Elite Grand IV. So far I've just been using it for focused drills such as Single Handed BH, Forehand, then practicing volleying. I got a feeling though there might be a roadmap of some kind of in using it to build your tennis game to the expert level instead of just randomly using the various features and functions to practice and drill. As always all suggestions, tips, comments are super appreciated.

Good starting point is to hit cross court forehands till you can hit an entire bucket without missing.

 

[ballmachineguy]

Can I ask what "stroke mechanics" is pls @ballmachineguy

Sure. I just meant the technique you are employing in striking the ball. If you would like to try to inject something you are seeing a higher level player doing, ball machine time is the time to do it. You might find something useful. If a tweak doesn’t work nothing lost.

 

[socallefty]

OP, you can do different drills to work on consistency for a shot, adding power/spin, hitting on the move etc.

Consistency - set the machine to feed to FH or BH, but not the same spot - hope it can adjust depth or angle between different feeds. Then try to hit 30 or 50 shots without missing. Secondly, try to hit 10 or 15 shots without missing with all shots landing outside the service box and inside the baseline. You can try other variations where you hit only CC, only DTL, alternating CC/DTL etc. Adjust the feed to different ball speeds, spins and feed rates - keep doing the consistency drills. You have to be consistent against both slow and fast balls of different spins.

Adding Power/Spin - put cones as targets deep in the corners and try to hit the targets while swinging at 80-90% of your full racquet head speed. If you keep missing wildly, try some experimentation with your footwork (especially spacing) and swing (more low-high, bend knee, hit more in front of you, extend arms more etc.) to see if you can generate more topspin which will give you accuracy and reduce errors. Once you get good at this (you’ll be a level or two better by then), put cones as short angle target near the outside edge of the service box and try to hit those - this takes even more topspin to hit them and will improve your spin generation and accuracy more. Make sure you try these while swinging hard as otherwise if you swing slow, it is easy to hit targets without much spin at a slow pace and that won’t improve you much - although you can get the coveted ‘pusher’ title in that case. Once you get good with topspin, also work on your BH slice and hitting deep targets and short targets with it. Also, work on volleys with different targets and standing at different spots near the net.

Lateral Footwork - Have the machine feed FHs and BHs alternately and keep increasing the angle and reducing the time between feeds to keep putting more pressure on your footwork and recovery. Try to either be consistent or hit targets or both while on the move. Then, switch to having the machine feed randomly and practice against that to improve your anticipation. Do this for volleys also.

Vertical footwork - Have the machine feed alternately at different depths and practice hitting shots moving up and moving back so that you can practice against both short and deep balls on the move.

Remember that the serve and return are the #1 and #2 most important shots in tennis and remember to practice those also.

Keep doing drills until your legs are very fatigued and then push yourself to play well in spite of that - that is important to develop that mental toughness for long matches. Replace your balls often as otherwise you learn to play only against Old balls that you won’t see in matches and also hitting old balls can cause repetitive injuries more easily. See you at the 4.5 level soon

 

[ChaelAZ]

I use the ball machine mostly for mechanics, but I used to do a lot of fitness drills. Ours had an A/B ball though so you could REALLY set some great scenarios. Even without, I like placing the machine in one corners and simulating 3 ball cross, which is basically setting the machine to hit three balls to one corner, then switch three balls to the next. I also like to set recovery drills that drag me out wide, but then give me just enough time to reset back to the center baseline before the next shot dragging me out wide. Here is one session I did a while back. Started with a few specific things in strokes I wanted to work on. Would do several shot with higher cardio, then just casual strokes to recover. The big one was working on the heaviest top spin ball to my backhand and attacking early, which I had not done much. Then I set in a randomized feed that included a few of the shots I worked on, including that heavy topspin to my backhand I could attack.

I still prefer live partners to practice with, but I can get a good workout in and hone some things with a ball machine. The A/B set up is really nice though.

 

[maggmaster]

Following this, I work out on the ball machine every day. I do mostly forehand recover, backhand recover. It’s a good workout but I am not sure I am optimizing my time.

 

[Bagumbawalla]

Well, much depends on your level/abilities, the versatility of your machine, what you want to accomplish and
how inventive you are.

Most people buy a ball machine because they want to groove their strokes by hitting the same ball over and over, and not having to pay 50 bucks an hour to have someone toss you balls.

Depending on your machine, you might be able to set it up to run you corner to corner while you hit forehands then backhands. Set it up so you can hit a couple ground strokes, then a volley, then go back for a lob. Set it up to lob and you can run back and hit "tweeners".

Additionally, you can set the machine to hit you a ball- then deal with that same ball differently each time- first with topspin, next with slice, then a drop shot, then a lob, different placements and so on.

You might try setting the machine up high on a rack so it sends the ball down and you can practice serves.

Use your imagination. Think about what you need/want, and try to work on those things.

 

[vex]

Hi guys,

So for coaches or experienced players out there who have used ball machines to improve their game. Are there any particular drills and progressions I can leverage to improve my game using a ball machine instead of just doing a guessing game playing with the different machine settings? The name of my ball machine is the Lobster Elite Grand IV. So far I've just been using it for focused drills such as Single Handed BH, Forehand, then practicing volleying. I got a feeling though there might be a roadmap of some kind of in using it to build your tennis game to the expert level instead of just randomly using the various features and functions to practice and drill. As always all suggestions, tips, comments are super appreciated.

Sell the ball machine. Buy a friend.

I know harsh but nothing competes with a good hitting partner

 

[Eddie G]

I hear forehand, what all variations did you practice using the machine? Check mark these please- xcourt deep, dtl deep, io deep, ii deep and short angle variations of these. And combine that with footwork patterns - step out fh, shuffle step fh, crossover/running fh, short ball fh going cc, dtl,io and ii. Before you start any of these, ensure your base swing technique is solid and can hit the c..p out of the ball without sailing long or into the net.
Make sure you recover back to your 'home base' after each and every shot, even if it means you can only hit 30 balls to pause and catch a breath.

Don't quite get what the abbreviations mean (e.g. xcourt deep, dtl deep, io deep, ii deep). What are the dtls, io's, etc

 

[Eddie G]

OP, you can do different drills to work on consistency for a shot, adding power/spin, hitting on the move etc.

Consistency - set the machine to feed to FH or BH, but not the same spot - hope it can adjust depth or angle between different feeds. Then try to hit 30 or 50 shots without missing. Secondly, try to hit 10 or 15 shots without missing with all shots landing outside the service box and inside the baseline. You can try other variations where you hit only CC, only DTL, alternating CC/DTL etc. Adjust the feed to different ball speeds, spins and feed rates - keep doing the consistency drills. You have to be consistent against both slow and fast balls of different spins.

Adding Power/Spin - put cones as targets deep in the corners and try to hit the targets while swinging at 80-90% of your full racquet head speed. If you keep missing wildly, try some experimentation with your footwork (especially spacing) and swing (more low-high, bend knee, hit more in front of you, extend arms more etc.) to see if you can generate more topspin which will give you accuracy and reduce errors. Once you get good at this (you’ll be a level or two better by then), put cones as short angle target near the outside edge of the service box and try to hit those - this takes even more topspin to hit them and will improve your spin generation and accuracy more. Make sure you try these while swinging hard as otherwise if you swing slow, it is easy to hit targets without much spin at a slow pace and that won’t improve you much - although you can get the coveted ‘pusher’ title in that case. Once you get good with topspin, also work on your BH slice and hitting deep targets and short targets with it. Also, work on volleys with different targets and standing at different spots near the net.

Lateral Footwork - Have the machine feed FHs and BHs alternately and keep increasing the angle and reducing the time between feeds to keep putting more pressure on your footwork and recovery. Try to either be consistent or hit targets or both while on the move. Then, switch to having the machine feed randomly and practice against that to improve your anticipation. Do this for volleys also.

Vertical footwork - Have the machine feed alternately at different depths and practice hitting shots moving up and moving back so that you can practice against both short and deep balls on the move.

Remember that the serve and return are the #1 and #2 most important shots in tennis and remember to practice those also.

Keep doing drills until your legs are very fatigued and then push yourself to play well in spite of that - that is important to develop that mental toughness for long matches. Replace your balls often as otherwise you learn to play only against Old balls that you won’t see in matches and also hitting old balls can cause repetitive injuries more easily. See you at the 4.5 level soon

@socallefty this is priceless. A million high-fives to you!

 

[Eddie G]

Well, much depends on your level/abilities, the versatility of your machine, what you want to accomplish and
how inventive you are.

Most people buy a ball machine because they want to groove their strokes by hitting the same ball over and over, and not having to pay 50 bucks an hour to have someone toss you balls.

Depending on your machine, you might be able to set it up to run you corner to corner while you hit forehands then backhands. Set it up so you can hit a couple ground strokes, then a volley, then go back for a lob. Set it up to lob and you can run back and hit "tweeners".

Additionally, you can set the machine to hit you a ball- then deal with that same ball differently each time- first with topspin, next with slice, then a drop shot, then a lob, different placements and so on.

You might try setting the machine up high on a rack so it sends the ball down and you can practice serves.

Use your imagination. Think about what you need/want, and try to work on those things.

Thanks for the nuggets Bagumbawalla. I know it's a few months bit late, but sharing kudos regardless.

 

[Eddie G]

I use the ball machine mostly for mechanics, but I used to do a lot of fitness drills. Ours had an A/B ball though so you could REALLY set some great scenarios. Even without, I like placing the machine in one corners and simulating 3 ball cross, which is basically setting the machine to hit three balls to one corner, then switch three balls to the next. I also like to set recovery drills that drag me out wide, but then give me just enough time to reset back to the center baseline before the next shot dragging me out wide. Here is one session I did a while back. Started with a few specific things in strokes I wanted to work on. Would do several shot with higher cardio, then just casual strokes to recover. The big one was working on the heaviest top spin ball to my backhand and attacking early, which I had not done much. Then I set in a randomized feed that included a few of the shots I worked on, including that heavy topspin to my backhand I could attack.

I still prefer live partners to practice with, but I can get a good workout in and hone some things with a ball machine. The A/B set up is really nice though.

Thanks for sharing this buddy....yeah, you do look like you got quite a workout.