Do we “just” warm up during warm up on the court?

The first 10-20 minutes of the practice are called warm up. Players most often start from the service line and they hit lightly to each other to get control over the ball. When they feel comfortable players move to the baseline and they perform regular shots trying to achieve good consistency. Emphasis is put on control and repetitions. Should we expect something more from this first part of the practice?

Warm up time can have a big impact on player’s performance when performing next drills. Players who hit the ball well from the beginning of the session are able to fluently go to the next exercises and maintain high quality of own actions.

Players who struggle with good control and consistency during first several minutes have also difficulties with achieving tasks and goals sometimes even for the rest of the practice session. That is why it is crucial to understand how big impact warm up has on our performance and try to give our best at the beginning of the session as well as at the end.

When we ask players what they are trying to achieve during warm up time the most often we can hear this answer: “I just want to warm up.” These words can be easily translated as need to feel the ball, warm up the body physically, get the rhythm and control over the ball.

I agree that these things are necessary at the beginning of the practice because without good movement or with less control it is impossible to play up to own potential. The question is: Can we get all of these and still improve some skills at the same time? Definitely we can. Proper approach to warm up can make a big difference even after short period of time.

Tennis development is based on technical, tactical, mental and physical skills. Good coaches try to work on these aspects during practice sessions so why shouldn’t we improve one of these areas during warm up time? If we modify our drill or when we add specific target we can get much more than just consistency, rhythm and control.

We can make our development much faster. Imagine that you spend 10 minutes a day for the next 2 weeks on warm ups with specific tasks. It can result with additional 1-2 hours of specific practice. Will it make a difference? Of course!

The process of implementation this new warm up formula is quite simple. If you have a plan for your players you can use one of your goals to achieve in warm up. If you don’t (please don’t say that!) you can think of aspects that can help your player get better and win more tennis matches.

Here are some examples that you can use:

1. Use only one ball (great way to make players focus more and maintain high quality of shots).

2. Set up zone to hit into (target will make players work on control, direction and depth of the shots).

3. Use only close/open stance (technical aspects can be improved with this rule).

4. Make 50 shots in a row without an error (stress level is different when you hit shot number 6 than when you hit shot number 42. The closer to the goal the more pressure player will feel).

5. Alternate shots (rule that you can’t hit 2 the same shots in a row is great to improve footwork and reaction).

6. Say loudly which shot you have to use (saying „forehand” or „backhand” will allow your player to improve ball perception and learn how to early prepare own shots).

7. Play only inside the baseline (changing position on the court will force player to learn how to adapt to new situation).

8. Make warm up competitive (set up targets and give prizes/penalties for both players).

As you can see there are different methods to make warm up just effective. If you approach first minutes of the practice with general approach you don’t take the most of it. Remember that warm up time is part of the training session and goal of the training session is to improve. Start to improve from the first minute and you will quickly realize that it is possible!

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