Thursday Practice Report (13-Sep-2007)

Seven boys came.
Tommy, Nicholas, Brian, Oscar, Alex, Kenny and one more boy (Sorry, I forgot his name...)
It's quite interesting that not many advanced player attended my lesson, those strong players like Chris and Barry would like to attand Tuesday's lesson.
However, more beginers like Alex would like to join my class.

Boys had a very short warm-up.
Then, we did the same drill like last week, but with some variation.
One forehand, One in-side-out, one forehand, one in-side-out...
The beginers like Kenny and Alex couldn't hit the in-side-out shot, and they counldn't control the ball to hit a down-the-line shot. Some did well, especially Brian and Tommy, they hit very good down-the-line shot. Actually, I liked Brian's in-side-out style, beatiful shot!

One more drill about chasing the forehand shot and dashed to get a drop shot.
Boys did well, but they were too slow. After some more shots, some did excellent, they got all the drop shots.

So, here came today's theme: mid-court attack!
We first tried some easy approach shots, which they had been very well known of the drill. Some did the drill okay, but some even can't control the ball or just say they hit many "out", Tommy and Oscar hit many balls "out". Tommy, powerful shot is not always win, consistent shot is more important.

Another mid-court attack is the bounced overhead.
The bounced overhead is not easy for them. Many players smashed the ball out and even hit to the net. I was shocked and unexpected. It is a sad fact that only one in the group know the path of the back swing of the overhead, he is OSCAR!!!

Overhead is different from the service. The path of the back swing is not the same. Only Oscar knows the difference, other six boys hit the overhead with the service posture...

Game! Today we had the "prisoner".
The team divided into two, played a team single.
But, the one win the point can "jail" the opponent or "free" his teammates for the jail.
The game should be fun, but they didn't enjoy much at first because many players hit the ball to the net at the first shot... So, consequetly, the whole team lost. Two teams traded their partners, and they performed much better.

The key to win the game is consisnence.
What you should do is not making any errors, sounded easy? but actually it's hard for the boys.
Another tip for the game is to be cruel, not free the teammates from the jail but send all your opponent to the jail!
Funny game.

Service, of course.
We had some cones for the targets and no one hit the cones.
I would like to comment on Tommy's service. He has a very powerful serve, but all were fault.
Powerful serve means nothing, especially you can't serve a "in". We are not Andy Roddick, and there are not many players like him has the rocket service. In your age or I would say in our level, serving in the court is far more important than the power.
I hope you would learn it by yourself in the match...

At the end, we had two doubles.
Lastly, we did the fitness.
Fitness is very important, especially for the boys to train their footwork!

I'm so pleased to seeing so many beginners today.
I appreciated Oscar and Brian, they did well in the doubles.
Also, Alex was great, willing to learn and try!

Boys, keep on and work hard!