Ball Machine Necessary in HS team???

[ryushen21]

I was discussing this with another coach who is in a bit of a different situation than I am. He is running a 6A (largest division in TX) program by himself. He wants to get a ball machine so his players can get a consistent feed and he can be on the same side of the net with them to provide feedback and more direct coaching.

I also run a 6A program and have a ball machine that I never use but I do have an assistant coach as well.

My suggestion to him was that he wait because he might get an assistant next year and if he does then the ball machine will become redundant. And there is a lot he could purchase with what he was going to spend on a ball machine.

Am I wrong in my thinking here?

 

[PhxRacket]

Coach Fred, even tournament level player feed>than robot ball machines

 

[PhxRacket]

Oops Coach feed

 

[Dragy]

I believe ball machine can be good to get some mechanical reps + footwork for someone who already developed decent technique and movement pattern, but lacks mileage (again, mechanical). Which makes it relatively narrow group.

If he needs to teach technique to his kids, it's a 50/50 solution, as coach's feeds are easier adjustable. If his team is generally solid, better set them rallying each other, or maybe put consistent kid on the other side to feed/rally.

 

[nyta2]

i have access to a few ball machines…but as a first year hs, I ended up following david smith’s book.

basically teach the kids to feed each other…

my team was 15 kids ranging from utr2 to utr8…. for the advanced kid obviously they could hit with each other, but for the beginners/intermediates, where I needed to work on specific stroke corrections, it was much easier to hand feed them balls (or they feed each other if I was on a different court). as they got better I taught them self feed (bounce hit) a practice ground stroke, to feed someone across the net (so the feeder practices a ground stroke, and learns directional control)

for the feeds that requires a bit more precision, I found I was better off feeeding for the sake of variety (spin, depth, etc,…).., and usually the adv kids needed a combination of feeds (eg defend deep ball, approach, first volley, put away volley/oh) so the ball machine would be annoying.

I could make a case for a ball machine, being better than having kids feed (via bounce hit practice gs), but then I think the kid(s) miss out on practicing. their ground strokes off a no pace ball (ala pushers!)

my $0.02

 

[badmice2]

It’s not so much that machine feed is bad, more so they’re not ready for machine feed, let alone racket feed. I recently had a workout with an ambitious high school player with very little training, and he had a hard time with simple racket feed mainly because he can’t locate his contact point <- and that is the biggest challenge. Unfortunately you can’t rush the process.

 

[LuckyR]

In So Cal, if HS team players need to improve their strokes ie they aren't already advanced, the team isn't going to do very well in league.

 

[ChaelAZ]

I was the ball machine. Got me a TiS6 just for feeding.

 

[nyta2]

In So Cal, if HS team players need to improve their strokes ie they aren't already advanced, the team isn't going to do very well in league.

for the teams that go to states in ny, the depth of the team is in the utr5-11 range (ntrp4.0-5.5)… so no ball machine needed for this level of team (ie by utr5, you need the variability of free hitting combos/patterns against a live player)

i’m presuming anyone thinking of ball machines for hs practice, are likely dealing with a decent number of beginner/intermediates on the team

 

[sovertennis]

In my experience, beginning and developing players simply cement bad habits when hitting ball machine feeds.

 

[LuckyR]

for the teams that go to states in ny, the depth of the team is in the utr5-11 range (ntrp4.0-5.5)… so no ball machine needed for this level of team (ie by utr5, you need the variability of free hitting combos/patterns against a live player)

i’m presuming anyone thinking of ball machines for hs practice, are likely dealing with a decent number of beginner/intermediates on the team

Exactly my point

 

[Friedman Whip]

I've used my BM almost every practice for the last 4 years with my high school teamers. I really believe that beginner players (of which we have plenty) have got to hit a lot of balls in order to improve and the BM really helps in doing that. It's a Spinshot with 2 line capability, different ball speeds and feed speeds and spins, etc. It's a solid machine. A hoss.

 

[ey039524]

I think it depends on what the kid to coach ratio is. We had a ball machine at my school I coached at but hardly ever used it bc we had enough coaches to feed. My son's previous school had a machine and used it more frequently bc they had one coach.

Feeding balls takes experience. There's technique to it (continental grip, ...). Asking kids to feed if they're playing drills or live ball games is an unfair expectation. They should be practicing playing, not feeding. Most kids can't feed properly, and the players don't get a proper practice bc the feeds suck. If I see a coach that can't feed, I usually interpret it as a coach w little tennis experience.

Now that my son's in high school, I see a lot of this.

 

[nyta2]

I think it depends on what the kid to coach ratio is. We had a ball machine at my school I coached at but hardly ever used it bc we had enough coaches to feed. My son's previous school had a machine and used it more frequently bc they had one coach.

Feeding balls takes experience. There's technique to it (continental grip, ...). Asking kids to feed if they're playing drills or live ball games is an unfair expectation. They should be practicing playing, not feeding. Most kids can't feed properly, and the players don't get a proper practice bc the feeds suck. If I see a coach that can't feed, I usually interpret it as a coach w little tennis experience.

Now that my son's in high school, I see a lot of this.

i definitely would NOT ask beginners/intermediates to racquet feed with conti grip (adv skill imo)...
but i do as my kids to take turns hand feeding the balls... ie. if there are 6 kids on a court... 1 kid feeds 10x 5kids then rotate...
there is something to be learned from all roles {feeder, receiver, observer}... it's a concept i learned from martial arts, but saw used in davidSmith's book (he also recommends teaching kids to hand feed to other beginners/intermediates)
i've even had one feeder, hand feeding 2 kids at a time on the court (eg. fh & bh)... so they see footwork, timing, preparation, etc... and when i make corrections, they can "see" what others are doing wrong,so when it's their turn, they can fix it....
i will also have folks waiting on line, shadowing the person in front of them (pretending are the person "in front" hititng the ball)... when done well, everyone should be sync {split, turn, move, adjust, swing to contact, follow through, recover}

i found that with the ball machine, or even me feeding, whoever is waiting is just standing aorund, talking to their friends, not really paying attention...

 

[dannyslicer]

Advanced players do not use ball machines.
It is always live rally

 

[dannyslicer]

Same side of the net coaching is the most underrated thing in tennis

 

[smashlob2]

No ball machine for high school tennis. The kids that can play? You're not going to replace their coach, have them play matches, baseline games, singles, doubles, dingles, whatever. You have too many kids as a high school coach to be doing instruction. The better high school coaches I see work on high level stuff, lineups, who plays well with who, strategy and tactics. Don't try to be everything to everyone, it's impossible. Same side coaching is nice, but if you have 20-30 kids and 1 coach, it's a terrible, terrible idea. Especially since the better players will already have their own coaching.

If you have beginners or no-cut team, as others have said, depending on skill, other players can either hand-toss or racquet feed to each other. At some level there is a brute force numbers game to this. You must separate these groups from each other for anything resembling a productive practice.