High Octane Team Tennis Drills

A common problem for many tennis coaches is having a limited amount of court space to use during team training sessions. Practices using traditional individual drills won't get a full team the amount of time they need on the court to enhance their skills.

USPTA Elite Professional Bruce Gullikson provides 15 drills and variations for teams that are limited to 1-2 practice courts. Coach Gullikson demonstrates warmups and large group competitive games and drills. These drills will improve your players' footwork, posture, reaction time, ground strokes, lobs, smashes and volleys.

Team Warm-Up

You'll learn two types of warm-up drills from Coach Gullikson: the Volley Lob Warm-Up and the Ground Stroke Warm-Up. In the Volley Lob Warm-Up, your players will work on keeping their hands in front of their body at the net, maintaining active feet and getting creative with their volleys. It's a great way to get heart rates up and work up a sweat before a demanding practice session.

The second warm-up drill is the Ground Stroke Warm-Up. Athletes will work on hitting slices, shots with top spin, defense and footwork.

Large Group Games

Coach Gullikson works on virtually every skill needed to play elite tennis using games designed for high numbers of players. Your athletes will cycle in and out of drills quickly, getting tons of reps and opportunities to get better.

In Bump Pass Spike, athletes develop creativity, movement without the ball, overhead shots and ability to play with their opposite hand. The phrase that Coach Gullikson promotes is "Hands and feet make the player complete," which is reinforced on the court.

Competitiveness is ramped up in Flurry, a fast-paced drill focused on reaction time and playing from different spots on the court. Teams of three battle against each other to stay on the court, as making a mistake means a new player rotates in for the losing team.

After an intense practice, players need to cool down. See Ya is a great way to end practice, as players work on eliminating mistakes while trying to force opponents into errors.

Coaches of all levels will benefit from the drills and skills covered in this video. Incorporating Coach Gullikson's exercises into your practices will help your players improve at a faster rate, especially if you have limited court space.

65 minutes. 2015.