C5L9 Super Short Court

Here is just one of the greatest drills, we've done short courter, what you might call mini tennis. Here we take it up a level to really discover the line of the ball as it relates to your 45 degree angle. Its called Super Short Court. See here is slow motion Paul starts in small at the 45 now he see's where the ball is going. He see's the line of the ball and he times it so he moves slow enough with his whole body that by the time he gets back out to the furthest point on his 45 thats when he is making contact with the ball. See how far in he is still in from that ball. Watch this and now as hips pull through his racket goes further away from him and lines up with the line of the ball. That 45 degree angle connects with that line of the ball, its like a triangulation. Watch here a full follow through, see I make my move there, see the line of the ball. I am still very small, no big movements, no quick movements. I bring my hips in and then they immediately come right back out. I take a shot that looks like a full on ground stroke, it looks like we are playing tennis here at the base line. Whats good about this is it really get you focused on the line of the ball. You are not taking a big swing but you are taking a full swing. The only way to do this properly is to know where the ball is going to land at your 45 degree angle. You've really got to discover how its moving the path of flight. Then we are doing some big top spin, this is a great drill to really get a feel of the ball. Its a big swing Paul is taking right there. We are putting a lot of top spin, that ball is not going much more than two feet past the net. See that, that water stain is about a foot from the net at the most. Look where those balls are landing. The reason I am showing this with a long rally is because this is the type of practice that is really going to help your students. Doing things one ball here and one ball there when you can get your students to do this for 2 minutes like we are doing here or 3 minutes. They really not only groove their stroke but they also groove their eyes, to find the path of the ball. The line of the ball, so when they get back on the baseline its actually easier. They have a longer distance to follow the ball which means they can see the arch a longer way. This is just an amazing drill remember once you do it on the forehand side go right to the backhand side. See how close we are taking full strokes, well you know got to crack a eggs right if you're going to make an omelet. See that moving nice and slowly with a full finish here. The big thing is here see how we are placing our rackets at the 45 to start and then we are incrementally guiding it to merge right at the 45 as we see the ball coming towards our 45 degree angle. That flight of the ball really gives you a lot of information, you know so you can preform the proper stroke. Make sure you try to do these drills for a long long time. This is really the type of focus your players are going to need under pressure. Everything is going to have feel slow even when they are at the baseline and under a lot of pressure they never want to feel rushed. They always want to feel like they are moving with the ball. Another slow motion, Paul has a really slow first movement, look at his head. Slightly, slightly maybe an inch or half an inch from where it began facing straight forward and from here his eyes, his head stay straight on, he's watching the flight of the ball and he is feeling his stroke below him. You want to keep your head up above your neck and keep it out of all the action going on below you. So you are watching the line of the ball and you are feeling your body move move in and out of the stroke with the ball. There it is and look at that high finish of Paul's. Make sure when you do this drill you don't just poke it back and forth at one another. This is a drill where you really not only get the line of the ball down, but you really get your strokes down. One last time here on the forehand in case you forgot, not this time we are really short. I guess thats the next thing you want to do the shorter the better. We have another game we play where you try to hit the top of the net, its really really a tough game. Here we are actually getting some height over the net. Another great game is try to hit the top of the net. Play to 5 or something and its just an incredible drill. You really feel, I hit the top of the net right there, you really feel like you have your strokes down and you're really seeing the ball well. Thats how these pro's feel like Agassi when they say "he really see's the ball well" and he has a real fast track on the ball. What it is with him and players like that is they really understand the flight of the ball, the line of the ball. They can get connected to the line of the ball, as it relates to their 45 degree angle. So make sure you do this drill with all your students. Its a very very important drill believe me it will help.