Day 12: Dink Day
Dink day. This is your chance to work on your footwork for getting into position to have choices on your dinks. Keep your opponent guessing. Play a dink game where every ball must be a dink. Play a game where you require a third-shot drop. Do the drill where you move laterally back and forth as you place your dinks. Your objective today is to learn what you can and cannot do effectively.
Day 13: Reset Day
This day is reset day. Practice taking the ball in No Man’ s Land and dropping it into the kitchen. Learn to take the pace off of the ball to get you and your partner back into the game. Today you must avoid banging. You have to soften the ball, slow the pace, and give yourself time to get to the NVZ line. No banging, no matter how tempting.
Day 14: Stacking
This day is for stacking. You may need it someday. You may use it regularly. Whatever your level, this is worth doing and worth doing well. It is useful offensively to attack the opponents, and it is useful defensively to protect your team against your weakness. Learn where to stand when stacking and how to move.
Day 15: A Lefty Partner
This day is Play With a Lefty Day. The strategy is generally to keep both forehands down the middle. However, that requires establishing who has priority on those down-the-middle shots. The spin from a lefty is different. His partner has to learn to really watch the ball to take advantage of his partner’ s spin. Angles are different. A lefty has a distinct advantage angling the ball to the opponent’ s backhand. Learn to maximize your lefty’ s shots.
Day 16: A Lefty Opponent
Now it is Play Against a Lefty Day. This day is a challenge if you don’ t regularly play against lefties. You need to watch the ball closely on the serve so that you get in position early. You need to avoid giving the lefty an opening to hit his forehand wide to your backhand. Focus on depth, otherwise a lefty will beat you at the short game.
Day 17: Volley Placement
This day is all about placing your volleys. Get two hula hoops and put them in the deep corners for a ball machine drill. The volley must land inside the hula hoop. Play half court and focus on volleying deep. To volley deep, you need to get down so that you can push forward and volley with your legs, not just your arm.
Day 18: Defensive Lobs
Today is working on defensive lobs. Learn to be able to get back in the game. Because the court is small, you can cover most shots. That doesn’ t mean you always have a good shot. Sometimes it is best to hit defensively to get back in the game. A high, deep lob to the backhand can reestablish your position. Half court on the diagonal makes a good drill for defensive lobs.
Day 19: Consistency
Consistency rules the day. You are going to focus on keeping the ball over the net and inside the lines. You are going to make sure your follow-through lifts the ball over the net. You are going to prepare early so that you don’ t get trapped. Don’ t go for low-percentage shots. Keep the ball in play. No matter how much you hate to be ordinary, today you are the steady player. Consistency should be an ongoing theme.
Day 20: Fast Hands
Fast hands day. Both players are at the net doing rat-atat-tat at each other. Vary it a bit by going down the line and then crosscourt. Then alternate doing a figure eight. The ball must be playable. Step back a few steps. Keep your paddle out in front. Get down to the level of the ball when possible. Meet it out in front. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES.
Day 21: Bending Your Knees
Your objective today is to focus on bending your knees. You think you do it, but today you are going to exaggerate doing it. Get down on every shot. Get low on those dinks. Put some hamstrings into that serve. Maintain your follow-through on your backhand. Punch into that volley. Make every shot opportunity count.
Day 22: Opponent Analysis
Today you are working on an analyzing skill. When you go out to play a match, you need to study your opponent to know what shots to give him and what shots to avoid. This skill takes practice.
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