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Now let's move to another great, although slightly more involved group drill, I call Anaconda, since the players will now be snaking quickly around the court. You will gradually see the pace pick up as the players get more used to the rules and feel comfortable with the patterns of play.

Alright, this next drill is called Anaconda. It's a team drill like the last ones with a couple of differences. Number one is, the pro or coach or an additional player will feed from the base line or behind it. So here I am feeding the introductory ball and then getting out of the way. I got a team up to the net, so half way between the service line and the net.

We have two lines of players on the other side. Keeping track of their individual points, after the points are over again you go the opposite line, but because this time there is an odd number of players, you will go to the opposite line and maintain your individual score. When you get three, you come over and replace the person who you just leave. If you hit a winner Heather, Janice's side to win your third point, she goes in line and you come over here, everyone goes to zero.

There is another way to get over here and that is to hit a clean winner. If Pauli hits a winner, down the line that's completely and it's not touched, she replaces the person on this side. However if you hit either a lob or passing shot down the middle, you both go and they both come. And I will feed quickly when you are running.

If you lob and he doesn't touch it before it bounces, that's a clean winner. If he touches it but it doesn't go in, that's one point. I will repeat this as we go along. We are ready here we go. Now you have one and these guys both stay here. Ready, here we go.

How many guys down? Now you both get one for that, right. Here we go. Remember your points, Heather and Luigi(ph) you just got a point. They got their racket on it especially when you get it close, I would try and throw a clean winner. Does anyone have two points? When you come up, so how many points you have, raise your hand.

One, they got one each, here we go. They got two each, here we go.

Out. How many you have?

Unknown Speaker: Two.

Unknown Speaker: Two, two. We got winners here, you guys tough it up. They both get three on this, they both get three, here we go. We have a clean winner, Heather go into the line, Holly and Janice you are off.

Whether or not Heather hit a clean winner, on that last shot is not particularly important. What is important is that you just saw the key to running this drill successfully. Whenever players switch sides, you have to feed quickly to get them to really hustle, but don't let the number of players on the court allow you to think it is unrealistic. Recovering quickly, maintaining a high level of intensity, is absolutely a key to successful tennis.

Take a look at a few more points.

Janice, that means you are both done, hit a ball, hit a ball, hit a winner, we are not there yet.

As you undoubtedly just saw, I definitely rushed them with that last feed. But once you try Anaconda for yourself, you will get a feel for the balance that you need between pressuring your players to move quickly but also keeping it realistic for them to move from position to position. It's another one of those drills that will keep players coming back for more. No doubt about it.

Now let's move to another great, although slightly more involved group drill, I call Anaconda, since the players will now be snaking quickly around the court. You will gradually see the pace pick up as the players get more used to the rules and feel comfortable with the patterns of... click to read more