USPTA Elite Professional; President, USPTA Northern Division;
High Performance Certified;
Head Tennis Professional at Lifetime 98th St Club
Keeping players engaged is one of the keys to running an effective tennis practice.
USPTA Elite Professional and Head Club Pro, Bruce Gullikson, shows you over 20 high-intensity drills designed for individual players. The exercises provided by Coach Gullikson will help your athletes develop posture, strategy, racquet angle, ground strokes, net defense, spin shots, volleys and accuracy.
Body and Ball Control
Start off your practices by getting players' bodies stretched out and in the correct posture with the Matuska Drill. Your athletes will learn to use their legs and lower their center of gravity while hitting a ball with a partner.
Coach Gullikson includes a series of drills focused on ball control. The Djokovic Drill is a fun exercise that will help your players improve their footwork and racquet angles while competing against another player. Other drills that work on getting a better feel for the ball include the Fast and Furious drill and the Absorb and Rip drill.
Individual Skills
Your players will work on keeping the ball in play, generating spin, game-winning shots, approach shots, accuracy and movement with Coach Gullikson's individual drills.
The 2-on-1 Doubles Isolation drill pits an individual against two players as they work to hit game-winners. It's a challenging drill that will force your athletes to dig deep and hit shots they might not normally make against a single opponent. The Blue Line Net Coverage 2 vs 1 drill makes things even harder, as the width of the court is narrowed to encourage hitting hard, accurate shots.
Another great exercise is the Designated Approaches drill, in which your players will learn to react to the speed of different shots as they approach the net.
Hand Feeding
Coach Gullikson provides a variety of hand feeding drills that work on different kinds of movement and shots.
The Hand Tossing X Drill gets players moving in different directions prior to hitting a ball, while also working on hitting backhands and forehands. Your athletes will also learn how to get more top spin on balls with the Low Ball Wristers exercise. By hitting a low ball at the right angle with more racquet speed, players will soon find themselves hitting devastating topspin shots with ease.
Coach Gullikson's drills for individuals are built with the player in mind. Athletes of all levels will get better at tennis while having fun performing the exercises shown in this video.
56 minutes. 2015.