Drills with 3 people

[TimeToPlaySets]

I've assembled a small group of players who love to drill and practice.
On days when more than one guy wants to drill, I've told 2 guys to show up.

So far, we've done these, and rotate

A) A serves to B & C returners.
A is getting serving practice.
B & C are getting ROS practice

B) A drop feeds to B, and C is returning the ball.
A gets rest
B is hitting tons of balls.
C gets to return very hard deep hit balls

C) A vs. B (10 point TB), while C observes and gives feedback (court positioning, etc)
A & B get feedback on their game
C gets to see things he's been taught not being executed (reinforcement)

What are some 3 man drills you've liked?

 

[Slicerman]

My friends and I occasionally rally cooperatively 2 vs 1 at the baseline. The solo player must alternate their shots to the other player, regardless of where you need to hit the ball from. This forces you to train your directional control even on low percentage shots (eg. taking a crosscourt ball and hitting it DTL). Also trains your movement to your recovery position and fitness due to constantly moving around. Since you might be put out of position sometimes, it can also help train your shots on the run. We would then swap and take turns being the solo player, usually every 15-20 mins or so, or whenever that person needs a break.

 

[Jamesm182]

This drill is good for concentration/fitness/endurance/targeting.

Have Player A on their own on one side of the court , and players B and C on the other side. ON the side that Player A hits to, place some markers down the middle of the court, going wider the better the players are. This zone is banned from hitting. Each time a player hits outside the markers , ie into a corner they score a point. If they land in the zone you have marked out they either stays on the same score or lose a point (again depending on ability.
Each players get two minutes before rotating.
Players B and C are on at the same time , and simply making player A work hard, not trying to hit winners or approach the net etc.

Hope this helps. I do this with some performance players who love the challenge, right down to social tennis who like the cardio aspects.

 

[Chadillac]

jkoljkj

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

One player is all time server or returner.

The other two players get two total pts on serve or return. When a player holds or breaks, they become the new king. Each player keeps their own score, could be 0-30 or 30-0 on their next attempt

Its probably the best, because when the other guy is sitting there, he is figuring out a way to beat you.

Thanks, but this is just point play.
People don't correct flaws during point play, they try to win.
And they just keep reinforcing their wrong strokes.

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

This drill is good for concentration/fitness/endurance/targeting.

Have Player A on their own on one side of the court , and players B and C on the other side. ON the side that Player A hits to, place some markers down the middle of the court, going wider the better the players are. This zone is banned from hitting. Each time a player hits outside the markers , ie into a corner they score a point. If they land in the zone you have marked out they either stays on the same score or lose a point (again depending on ability.
Each players get two minutes before rotating.
Players B and C are on at the same time , and simply making player A work hard, not trying to hit winners or approach the net etc.

Hope this helps. I do this with some performance players who love the challenge, right down to social tennis who like the cardio aspects.

Thanks
This is just rallying, not really drilling
There is a difference
I'm not a fan of cooperative rally.

 

[Chadillac]

Forgot where i was lmao

 

[Jamesm182]

Completley disagree with you , player A is getting a good workout on targeting on specific shots, ie a drill. Very different from just rallying up and down for no reason

 

[Deleted member 23235]

I've assembled a small group of players who love to drill and practice.
On days when more than one guy wants to drill, I've told 2 guys to show up.

So far, we've done these, and rotate
A) A serves to B & C returners.
B) A drop feeds to B, and C is returning the ball.
C) A vs. B (10 point TB), while C observes and gives feedback (court positioning, etc)

What are some 3 man drills you've liked?

big fan of the feeder, reciever, observer learning paradigm...
we also play alot of king of the court games...
or just plain ole heart attack indicucing 2v1... where the 2 just hit medium paced balls to make 1 have to run everythign down, for as long as possible.... 1 is forced to alternate hitting direction, and 2 get to practice goign dtl

 

[Deleted member 23235]

This drill is good for concentration/fitness/endurance/targeting.

Have Player A on their own on one side of the court , and players B and C on the other side. ON the side that Player A hits to, place some markers down the middle of the court, going wider the better the players are. This zone is banned from hitting. Each time a player hits outside the markers , ie into a corner they score a point. If they land in the zone you have marked out they either stays on the same score or lose a point (again depending on ability.
Each players get two minutes before rotating.
Players B and C are on at the same time , and simply making player A work hard, not trying to hit winners or approach the net etc.

Hope this helps. I do this with some performance players who love the challenge, right down to social tennis who like the cardio aspects.

+1

Thanks
This is just rallying, not really drilling
There is a difference
I'm not a fan of cooperative rally.

coop rally yields a higher # of reps to practice
not all coop rallies are the same (ie. hitting down the middle arguably if you're a high enough level, is a waste of time, beyond the warmup)... but hitting coop cc rallies, is extremely valueable.

 

[ptuanminh]

cooperative rally is fake practice.

 

[Power Player]

I've assembled a small group of players who love to drill and practice.
On days when more than one guy wants to drill, I've told 2 guys to show up.

So far, we've done these, and rotate
A) A serves to B & C returners.
B) A drop feeds to B, and C is returning the ball.
C) A vs. B (10 point TB), while C observes and gives feedback (court positioning, etc)

What are some 3 man drills you've liked?

Hitting drill to warm up before points - Player A is on one side of court in the middle. B and C on other, each standing between the T and alley to cover deuce and Ad sides. Basically forms a triangle between 3 players with A as the point.

A's goal is to hit one shot to the B player than alternate his next shot to the C. B and C's job is to hit the ball down the middle back to A. Obviously the work is on the A player by himself because he is hitting twice as much and needs to be able to alternate the ball from one side to the other.

Each player rotates to take 10 minutes at A and then you play points after.

The point is to develop directional control and consistency while getting the blood going. It is not easy for players to take over at A and alternate the ball direction constantly. It is also not always easy for B and C to hit the ball back down the middle consistently if they are lower level players.

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

Triangle of death looks like a good drill.
It is a direct contradiction of cooperative rally, and resembles real tennis (hit away from opponent)
But, I suspect those under 4.5, including myself, will not have the accuracy to do this drill.

 

[TimeToPlaySets]

coop rally yields a higher # of reps to practice
.

But, a higher # of reps you will never see in a match?
Is this analogous to the feed queen who can crush silver platter feeds, and then implodes to a slicer junker dropLobber ?

When I do rally, it is with the intent of closing out the point.
If I cough up a short ball, partner better put it away and make me run.
A) Rally to generate short ball (This means hitting away from him)
B) Approach shot.
C) Volley.

I guess I am just not a fan of rally practice.
I subscribe to the O'shaughnessy data where most points do not go past 4 balls.
For non-ATP I suspect the number is even lower.
As such, I put serve and ROS at the top of my drill priorities, and rallying at the bottom.
Highest yield bang for buck for the level I am at.

 

[ptuanminh]

If the goal is to replicate a match, then why don't you just play a match?

 

[Slicerman]

or just plain ole heart attack indicucing 2v1... where the 2 just hit medium paced balls to make 1 have to run everythign down, for as long as possible.... 1 is forced to alternate hitting direction, and 2 get to practice goign dtl

This is the exact same thing I mentioned. I find this most fun method of practice between 3 people, and from my experience the quickest way to level up your game if you have the footwork and full arsenal of strokes to handle it.