Drill of the Day - Deep & Center

By Bo Keeley

Practice has filled my comeback days, opening a treasure chest of theories, strokes & drills. I just spent 30 minutes doing the drill of the day. Take a position near the back wall midway between the sidewalls with paddle/racquet & ball in hands. Toss the ball w/out a bounce and try to kill it in mid-air w/ the forehand straight ahead into the front wall. Then, the same shot w/ the backhand straight ahead. Now toss up and kill a forehand to the front forehand corner. Then, the same shot w/ the backhand to the front backhand corner. Next, toss & forehand kill the ball to the backhand corner, followed by a backhand kill to the forehand corner

Note the toss set-up for these drills is simply flipping the ball a couple feet into the air, so it descends waist-to-knee high for the in-fly smote. The advantage of the Deep & Center set of drills is it compels one to volleying the ball, it provides an eye & strength for a long shots, it practices the most significant shot- a kill - to all directions, the ball usually returns to u, it's fast, and fun. Other shots post-drill may seem drearily easy