with Ben Loeb, Ed.S.,
Rock Bridge High School (MO) Head Boys' & Girls' Tennis Coach;
Sport Psychology Teacher;
His tennis teams have won over 1,000 dual meets, 19 state championships, & 40 final four appearances;
Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) member;
American Psychological Association (APA) Division 47 Society for Sport, Exercise & Performance Psychology member
Creating the best possible practice for your players that helps them develop both technical aspects of their strokes, as well as tactical work, can be a challenge for every coach. Effective practice organization and drills can help your players develop at a much greater rate and lead to even more success on the court.
Coach Loeb takes you through his 'ABC's of Tennis Basics' that he integrates into all of their practices, including in his three different types of warm-up phases to start practices that will help your players develop improved consistency and get them ready for practice. He runs players through a variety of drills from simple rally and volley drills at different lengths to serve and return variations, including his Serve +2 Each drills for serve and return to help players start points strong.
Drills to help your players practice playing to their style of play and against other styles of play.
Learn how to use a variety of drills and games to help your players develop and practice strokes that match their primary and secondary styles of play, as well as playing against any style of play. Coach Loeb shows you how you can utilize different rally drills and competitive games that isolate specific shots and patterns that each style of play would utilize. He firmly believes that players should be prepared to utilize multiple styles of play, as well as be prepared to play against all styles of play. Coach Loeb accomplishes this with drills like:
- Feed +2/+3 shots that will help players develop counter-punchers and consistency of play.
- The aggressive baseliner drill to help players develop both offensive and defensive styles of play.
- The approach game and 1-back, 1-back game to work on developing players with an all-court game.
Coach Loeb shows a variety of unique ways to score each of these games to further emphasize the style of play he wants his players to work on in practice.
Drills and games to help your players develop different patterns of play that they can utilize in matches!
Coach Loeb feels that it is important to practice and develop simple patterns of play that players can utilize in matches to be more consistent and learn to look for opportunities to take control and finish off points. He does this with a variety of drills that focus on and isolate several common patterns of play. You can learn drills that help your players develop and master these same patterns of play with games like:
- Feed +2 Cross-court Game that helps your players develop the ability to play consistently cross-court, but also gain confidence in attacking down the line.
- An inside-out forehand version of the Feed +2 Cross-court Game to work on running around your forehand to develop a more attacking mindset.
- Heavy Lob Feed/Return Game to help your players work on attacking with high deep lobs to force your opponent into a weak return.
Coach Loeb also shares two games that will help your players develop the ability to attack their opponents by pulling them wide off the court.
Simulating match-like competition in practice sessions!
Coach Loeb knows how important it is for players to experience match-like pressure in practices to help them stay relaxed and confident during the crucial points of matches.
He has tremendous success with his teams by playing games with unique scoring systems or rules to help players better adapt and practice those situations.
One game that he uses in practice is the Same Corner Start and Opposite Corner Start games, where both players start behind the baseline in a corner on either the same side of the court or the opposite side of the court. The ball is fed and then players play out the point having to work from a defensive start to get into control of the point.
Coach Loeb does a tremendous job of breaking down each phase of practice, explaining the importance of why each area is important to work on and what things to focus on with your team, and showing you drills and games to help you reinforce and strengthen these areas with your players. If you are looking to run a more efficient and productive practice that will take your practices, and your players development, to the next level, this video is for you!
If you are looking to develop more efficient/effective practices that work on specific areas of the game with players that are already capable of consistency in a rally, this would be a good video for you. A very detailed breakdown of various phases of a practice .he does a great job of framing them in with little scoring or rule tweaks that help work on very specific situations/styles. Really made me think about how I could tweak some of my own drills and games I already use to be more effective with them - I would highly recommend.
-Customer Review
50 minutes. 2022.