How does your tennis team run its practice sessions?

[cacky]

Hi all - I was curious as to how your tennis teams run their practices, and what format you think is most effective. I recently joined a USTA men's 4.0 team that is aiming to practice a couple times a week. For the most part, my experience here has been similar with a couple other teams I've played on. Specifically, we'll hit warmups and light rallies for about 20-25 minutes, and then get right into playing singles and doubles sets. We'll usually be able to get a couple sets in per practice, and will rotate partners after each set so that everyone has a chance to play with different people.

I think this is a good way to get actual game experience, but one thing I noticed is that there are still certain problems with technique and tactics that need to be fixed, not only with myself but with others as well. The thing is that the practices seem so focused on getting "match experience," which means we don't really have time to work on improving our strokes, talking strategy, and so forth. It's true that playing sets helps you get into "match mentality," but if you don't dedicate enough time towards developing the mechanical aspects of the game, you'll have a hard time keeping your foundation when you come under pressure during a match. I have seen it happen way too often that someone breaks down easy during a match once they've been pressured, simply because they haven't spent enough time working on maintaining their basic technique.

I guess the easy solution is just to find an extra day or two out of the week when I can go hit with a partner who has the mental discipline to do drills and rallies with me, or just work on serve mechanics or whatever it is we feel like doing. However, my real job makes it difficult for me to make that much free time for my hobby. As such, what types or formats of team practices have worked most effectively for you, and how have you guys allocated your time during practices? In my experience, the teams I've participated on devote a majority of its time to playing games, when in fact I believe that sometimes I (and others) may be better off spending less time "gaming" and more time drilling or just discussing strategy. If my experience is just par for the course as far as teams go, then maybe I just have to find some more time on my own to work on drills and rallies.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[cacky]

The other thing I want to note is that maybe just at the 4.0 level, there's a lot of time just spent "hitting around," but occasionally it seems like it is being done without a whole lot of purpose. My perspective on this may be skewed because when I'm not with the team, I generally practice with friends that are 4.5's (and occasionally a 5.0). Whereas I'm constantly thinking about shot selection and how to construct a point, sometimes I feel that just hitting around lends itself to going after "highlight reel" shots without any real consideration for true game situations or highest-percentage plays. I don't know if this is just typical of a 4.0-level player in general, but it's just something I noticed. I do think that while it's more fun to go out and play games or sets, it takes a lot more discipline to hit 20 minutes worth of cross-court backhands or forehands...yet this is how I feel like I've improved the most. I feel I can hit pretty comfortably with most people on the team, and believe that my "ideal" spot is probably first doubles or second singles (assuming that nobody in the league actually needed to worry about sandbagging).

Anyway, I'd love to hear what your guys' experiences have been like so I can better understand whether what I'm seeing here is more typical of 4.0's across the board, or if we just do things a little differently from others here.

 

[r2473]

“Its easy to talk about, its easy to sum it up when you just talk about practice. We sittin’ in here, I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we in here talkin’ about practice. I mean listen, we talkin bout practice. Not a game, not a game, not a game. We talkin bout practice. Not a game, not a, not a, not the game that I go out there and die for, and play every game like its my last. Not the game. We talkin’ bout practice, man. I mean how silly is that? We talkin’ bout practice. I know I’m supposed to be there, I know I’m supposed to lead by example. I know that, and I’m not shovin’ it aside, you know, like it don’t mean anything. I know its important, I do. I honestly do. But we talkin’ bout practice, man. What are we talkin’ bout? Practice? We talkin’ bout practice man. We talk… We talkin’ bout practice. We talkin’ bout practice. We ain’t talkin’ bout the game, we talkin’ bout practice, man. When you come into the arena, and you see me play, you see me play, don’t you? You see me give everything I got, right? But we talkin’ bout practice right now. We talkin’ bout practice. (crowd laughs) Man look, I hear you, its funny to me too. I mean, its strange, its strange to me too. But we talkin’ bout practice man. We not even talkin’ bout the game, the actual game, when it matters. We talkin’ bout practice.”

 

[adams_1]

First we hit for a while. Then we play Donkey.

 

[TokyopunK]

Its easy to talk about, its easy to sum it up when you just talk about practice. We sittin’ in here, I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we in here talkin’ about practice.

I mean listen, we talkin bout practice. Not a game, not a game, not a game. We talkin bout practice. Not a game, not a, not a, not the game that I go out there and die for, and play every game like its my last. Not the game. We talkin’ bout practice, man. I mean how silly is that?

We talkin’ bout practice. I know I’m supposed to be there, I know I’m supposed to lead by example. I know that, and I’m not shovin’ it aside, you know, like it don’t mean anything. I know its important, I do. I honestly do. But we talkin’ bout practice, man. What are we talkin’ bout? Practice? We talkin’ bout practice man. We talk… We talkin’ bout practice.

We talkin’ bout practice. We ain’t talkin’ bout the game, we talkin’ bout practice, man. When you come into the arena, and you see me play, you see me play, don’t you? You see me give everything I got, right? But we talkin’ bout practice right now. We talkin’ bout practice.

Man look, I hear you, its funny to me too. I mean, its strange, its strange to me too. But we talkin’ bout practice man. We not even talkin’ bout the game, the actual game, when it matters.

We talkin’ bout practice.