Focus during HS practices

[Gmedlo]

No, this is not directly my problem, but since it is a problem with teammates, it becomes my problem. My practices are run like garbage– there's no encouragement to do anything from the coach, meaning the coach just let's the kids loose to do their thing. The coach isn't knowledgeable enough to really coach, but I feel like more could be done on their part.

Our practices for the past two years have consisted of just an hour and a half of "hitting". What is "hitting"? usually feeding from the baseline with four people on a court, slapping the ball over the net as hard as you can, usually shanking a good eighth of the balls. The coach doesn't see a problem with the way any of the kids hit and usually says nothing. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we'll play a short set starting at 3-3. But then we run into the real problem that seems to have infected the team, with older players already passing it down to the younger ones.

NO ONE on the team takes practice seriously, in any way, shape or form. When we transition from "hitting" to matches, there are stupid errors brought about by lack of focus, and the response is always "it's okay, it's just practice." Even our coach seems to have the same attitude as the players that preach this vile ****. These are the same kids that spout that "we're gunna have a great team next year", then don't hit more than three times a year outside of HS tennis. Our team actually does have potential– we could easily place in the top three in our league, but I just don't see it happening if everything goes the way it has been.

Help me solve this– I don't want to deal with 2 more years of essentially wasting time, as I can't improve if they don't.

PS: Anyone on my team reading this: you know it's all true.

 

[obnoxious2]

Wow your description sounds JUST like my high school team when we played. We had 2 hr practices and for an hr and a half we just slapped the balls back and forth but occasionally working on volleys. Then the last half hour was like half set matches that were complete jokes with players serving balls at each other like in dodgeball.

But our team focused after getting absolutely destroyed by a rival school. Like after the match our team just voluntarily stayed and started rallying and actually hitting to hit winners and not just slapping at it as hard as possible. The coaches were pretty amazed that we actually had some drive in us.
So you may have to hope for something drastic.

 

[10s talk]

you can thank the teachers union...... they force schools to hire teachers as coaches over more qualified non teachers

 

[RestockingTues]

I think every typical high school is like that. For my tennis season, our coach TRIED to run drills during practice, but the thing was that all of the good players didn't need the drills, and the weaker players couldn't even attempt the drills.
The rest of practice time was just casual hitting. When I say casual, I mean most of the shots are slice forehands with ridiculous sidespin, most of which don't even make it onto the court, and shanks that frequently greet the top of the fence. But you can't do anything about it unless your teammates think that there is something wrong with the way they practice as well. Welcome to democracy

 

[pro_staff]

I think the first thing you should do is talk to the coach. It seems like there's a lack of communication between the players and the coach. You should talk to the coach about these problems and work with him/her to reach a solution. Search for threads with drill suggestions and pass them on to the coach. It seems like your practices just lack structure and it's not that the players don't care.

Also, does your team have a team captain? It might help if one of the players that the team respect steps forward and talks to the team about this. Who knows, it could be you.

And set goals for the team. You said your team has the potential to easily place in the top 3. Tell that to your teammates. It's good motivation to set some kind of goal.

 

[TTAce]

Like I said, there arent many thoughtful coachs.
we in TT support you.
Hangin there, enjoy as much as you can.