Being able to change direction quickly on the court is essential nowadays because the players are hitting harder and we have 3 simple speed drills that will help you improve your agility.
So, if you are looking to improve your speed, quickness and agility then we have 3 great on-court speed drills for you.
Watch the video and learn how to:
- setup the speed drills
- change direction effectively
- perform the drills in perfect form
or keep on reading, whichever you prefer.
What Are The 3 Speed Drills & Their Emphasis
So today we want to show you a few speed drills that you can do with your athletes to work on footwork and agility, the change of direction. We have the:
- T-Drill
- H-Drill
- 25 yard Sprint Drill
The T-Agility Drill
Download T-Speed and Agility Drill Diagram
It is called the T-Agility Drill because we have a T-pattern on the court. We have, for example, two green agility rings in the center of the court, where we initiate the split-step.
Then we place purple rings on the outside extensions of the sidelines and the blue rings about 1 foot away from the net.
So you are going to initiate the drill by split-stepping into the green agility rings. Then you move in side-step fashion as fast as possible towards the purple ring on the deuce-court sideline.
Next you jump inside the ring and stick the landing on one foot before pushing off to the other side and move in side-step towards the purple ring on the ad-court sideline.
Then you jump inside the rings with both feet before backpedaling as fast as possible until you are past the baseline again.
Next you stick the landing again on one leg, push off, and move side-step towards the center baseline. Then you sprint towards the blue rings at the net.
H-Speed & Agility Drill
Download H-Drill Speed and Agility Drill Diagram
Ok, next we are going to have the H-Drill because we have the movement pattern of an H.
Take a look at the diagram to see how the drill is setup and how you have to move through. Again, you split-step in the center of the baseline to initiate the drill.
The H-Drill is an all-court agility drill that is great for tennis players because we really mimic the movement patterns you would see on the tennis court.
So we are going to initiate the drill once the split-steps occur.
25 Yard Sprint Speed Drill
Ok, next we are going to have the sprint test, which basically starts from the baseline on the opposite side of the court and goes to the sideline extension of the service-line on the other side.
If you have available, you want to use four agility rings for the drill because that ensures that the athletes don’t cheat and it’s a good visual aide as well.
So you can put two agility rings on the baseline extension, which is where the athletes would split-step into to initiate the drill.
Then you place two rings on the other side on the extension of the service line so that the athlete also has a visual aide to know when the sprint is over.
Speed Drills Recommendations
For the speed drills you want to have a work-to-rest ratio of 1:3 to 1:8. It is depending on the fitness levels of the athletes you are working with.
So very fit individuals may only need 30 seconds rest whereas beginners may take up to 3 minutes to recharge the batteries before they can go again.
For example, if the H-dill takes you 15 seconds to complete then you would go again after 45 seconds (3 x 15 seconds) if you are fit or 120 seconds (8 x 15 seconds) if you are a beginners.
If the rest intervals are not specific to the people you are working with then you most likely will not train effectively. You may even get into overtraining, which you want to avoid because it causes a decrease in performance.
Therefore you want to make sure that you time the rest intervals according to the people that you are working with.
Speed Drills Related Articles
- How To Develop Agility Via Speed Ladder Drills
- Interval Training: How to Get Fit for Tennis
- Agility Training: How to Improve Tennis Specific Agility
Training Zone
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