Implicit Learning with Drills

Key Points

• Racket head speed is what separates the great players from the rest
• Similar to normal hand feeding, but in different directions so the player has to react and adapt quickly
• This drill can be done on both sides and include high and low balls, deep balls, slices or run around forehands, using creativity to keep the player moving
• Focus on a good split step so you can react
• Feed/throw the ball as fast as possible, so the player has to increase their racket speed with each shot
• Would normally do this drill once or twice a week for 5 to 10 minutes with 4 or 5 sets of 6 to 8 balls
• Vary all the feeds making sure the player focuses on creating space to hit the shot
• Start with 8 balls to the forehand, then 8 balls to the backhand, and then mix up the feeds to both sides
• Continue to change your position on the court when feeding balls
• Mix up different types of shots when feeding including high spin balls, low flat balls and slice, etc.
• Include targets and ask your player to focus on hitting to 1 corner
• Change your targets and court positioning based on what you want to work on with the player
• Coaches focus too much on feeding the same ball over and over again that the player may only get a few times in a match
• Feeding should be random and match realistic
• Short sets so the player can maintain 100% intensity
• Create an environment with ball feeding so the player can fix issues in their game through implicit learning
• Feeding should be random and match realistic
• Start as many drills as possible with a serve or return to mimic a match
• Too many coaches spend 55 minutes of a 1 hour session hitting groundstrokes and only 5 minutes hitting serves or returns
• It’s important to have a goal for what you want to achieve with a drill but then use as much variety as possible
• 80% of points in a match are finished within 4 shots
• Players should hit and move as fast as possible, keeping 100% intensity
• Do 4 sets of 2 shots with serve plus 1
• Breaks should simulate a match at 20 to 25 seconds between sets
• Set up drills where the player is missing 3 or 4 out of 10 to challenge them to improve