Thursday Practice Report (27-Dec-2007)

This is my first training session after the examination.

Today, our training started on 10am.
I arrived the court at 9:45am.

We got so many kids: Tommy, Oscar, Louvre, Brian, Boris, Jordan and our big guest Sam.
I invited Sam to join our training today, as I hope he can rally or play with them, in order to help with the kids.

We first had some warm ups.
Then, we back to our normal practice.
The first drill we did is the ball chasing exercise. Sam and I be the net players and others had to chase the wide ball to hit a forehand. Some did well in the drill. Tommy and Jordan tried their best. Sam and I both agree that Oscar did the best.

What's next, we had the "super chasing ball game".
This is the drill I learnt in HKTA's talenT Group. We had to use two courts for the drill( probably I would try to use three courts next time). We started at the first court, and Sam standed at the second court. They lined up on the first court, hitting a volley shot first. Then, I feed a very high ball to the second court, they had to chase from the first cout to the second court.

This is a very tough drill, they had to RUN!
Most of them didn't get the ball at their first few times. Tommy chased the ball at his first try, I can get the ball but didn't hit it... After some shots of practicing, all of them did better. Boris did a good job.

Next, we had the approach shot exercise as usual.
This is a very important drill for them, I bet. As many of the kids can't hit a short ball, such as the approach shot. Once they hit the short ball and move to the net, they always forget to be ready at the net. We had this drill just like our past experience.

Many of the hit the approach to the net. However, Tommy did better at the end, his volleys improved. Louvre also had some unpredictible shots, which makes Sam feared.

Service and one more game.
The game is "3-kings one side".
Two net game players and on baseline. Others line up at the opposite side.
If any of the kings lose the point, other would come to replace him. So that, it is a very fast and exciting game. The aim of the game is to let the boys learn how to recover in the court. Recovering in a double match is extremely important. Once your partner move a bit left, you had to recover some of his place in the court.

At the very begining, they are awful.
No one recover others place.
However, after talking to them, some learnt recovering.
I hope they earn something in the game.

Lastly, double and single.
Sam + Tommy vs. Jordan + Boris
Louvre vs. Brian

Next, I paired with Boris and played against Tommy and Sam.

This is a very good day.
Boys played well.
I'm so pleased to see our boys improved!