Address
3737 Valley Vista Road
Walnut Creek, CA 94523
Telephone: 925-934-4050
Club Administrators:Lesson Plan Nov. 17-21
Serves & Overheads:
Warm-up:15 minutes
Each pro should introduce basic warm-up drills to include cardio, balance, hand-eye and stretching elements.
Serves & Overheads:
The goal of this week is to improve our students' serve and overhead. Be sure to explain the benefits of moving towards a continental grip on the serve (variety of spin, etc.), the importance of the placement of the ball toss, and the balance of one's body at the point of contact. If these three things can be done on a relatively consistent basis, the student's serve will definitely become more reliable and more of a weapon vs. a liability. You can also have students practice their serve by hitting overheads on the bounce; this way they are not spending the entire time just standing and hitting serves. Overheads use the same concepts as the serve: same grip, same balance, and high contact out in front of the player’s head.
Grip: Try and move those players who have "frying pan" grips--or western grips on their serves--to gradually move towards a continental grip. Start them at an Eastern and progress from there.
Toss: It's important to make sure their toss is staying out in front of their body, at around 12-1 o'clock (12-11 o'clock if they're lefties...) Be sure they can toss a ball in about the same spot consistently.
Balance: Rarely do you want the player's feet sliding or stepping when they are about to hit the ball, so preach balance when they are going up to hit their toss on the serve...
Overheads: You will want the students to get into position for the overhead as quickly as they can, so that they can be better balanced and transfer their weight forwards when possible. Overheads typically shouldn’t be hit too deep, so keep the landing zone of their overhead around the service line to mid-way up no man’s land. Remember that with overheads, their backswing should be more abbreviated than a conventional service motion.
Drills and Games: 60 minutes
Games/Drills:
Conditioning: 15 minutes
Each Pro should run conditioning drills the help prepaer the students to pass and exceed the physical skill requierments of their next Grip level. These will include Suicides, Sit-ups and push-ups.