🏠 Home › Fundamentals › Famous Coaches › Self Awareness
Self Awareness
Comprehensive unified tennis knowledge base — Fundamentals, Stroke Analysis, Reference Library, and more
Self Awareness
Ean Meyer
Self Awareness | V1: Introduction to Self Awareness
This is the first video introducing our third series in the See Program: Self Awareness. In this video we will be outlining what the rest of the series entails. Self Awareness is an incredibly important skill and focuses on being aware of your own strengths and weaknesses.
Self Awareness | V1: Introduction to Self Awareness
This is the first video introducing our third series in the See Program: Self Awareness. In this video we will be outlining what the rest of the series entails. Self Awareness is an incredibly important skill and focuses on being aware of your own strengths and weaknesses.
Self Awareness | V2: Learn to Juggle
In this video you will learn the importance of juggling and how to juggle. This is a skill that works on your hand/eye coordination. Juggling three balls practices being able to see three things at once. One ball represents your opponent, one represents the ball, and one represents the opening on the court.
Self Awareness | V3: “Catching” Out of the Air with Hand Feed
When learning how to catch the ball out the air, it is necessary to start simple and gradually increase difficulty. This is another kind of practice that works on coordination between the hand and eye. Don’t be fooled- while this sounds like a simple drill, not many people understand the importance of it.
Self Awareness | V4: Catching Out of the Air with Racquet Feed
After the previous video, we have learned how to catch the ball off a hand feed. Now we will learn how to catch the ball off a racquet feed. By using the racquet instead of our hands, we can practice racquet and ball awareness. We will start from simple feeds and work our way up to catching complex feeds. After we practice this drill and start to volley, it will really help our eye, hand coordination.
Self Awareness | V5: Catching After One Bounce with Hand Feed
Now that we can catch the ball out of the air, we will now try catching the ball off the bounce. In this drill, we want to line our hand up with the ball early, before it even bounces. Doing this drill correctly is very important, so we can progress correctly and improve our playing.
Self Awareness | V6: Catching After One Bounce with Racquet Feed
From our previous video, we learned how to catch the ball off a hand feed after one bounce. Now, we will learn how to catch the ball off the racquet feed. This drill really helps you line up with the ball when you hit and establish a good foundation in technique.
Self Awareness | V7: Catching Above the Head with Hand Feed
Being able to catching the ball above the head is a part of self awareness. Catching the ball above the head helps especially with overheads. This video will show us the drill of catching the ball above the head, and explain how it will benefit your game.
Self Awareness | V8: Catching Above the Head with Racquet Feed
Before, we were feeding by hand, but now we’re feeding by racquet. To be able to do this drill easily, you have to line your hand up with the ball as early as possible. That is an important skill to be developed early on.
Self Awareness | V9: Catching with Feeder Changing Direction
We’re still on the same drill, but now the feeder will start changing direction. Again, it is a very important skill for the player to be able to see the ball coming off the racquet and determining if its going to be left or right. It’s also important to remember to line up your hand or racquet to the ball quickly.
Self Awareness | V10: Catching with Feeder Changing Speed
In our last video, the feeder changed direction. In this video, the feeder will be changing the speed so it could be fast or slow. This will train the player on reacting to catching the ball.
Self Awareness | V11: Catching with Feeder Changing Spin
Recently, we looked a bit at feeder changing direction, and feeder changing speed. Now we’re going to look at feeder changing spin. This is a harder drill because most people have trouble with predicting where the ball is going to bounce.
Self Awareness | V12: Catching with Feeder Changing Height and Depth
Now we’re looking at height and depth. The reason that height and depth are together is because when you see the height, you can most likely determine the depth. For example, when the ball comes off the feeders racquet, if the ball if high, it’s most likely deep; if it’s low, it’s probably short. Knowing how to predict the balls landing spot will train players to be able to act faster.
Self Awareness | V13: Ladder Drill 1
After covering drills to practice Hand-Eye awareness, we will move on to Foot-Eye awareness. We will delve into this particular awareness starting out with Ladder Drills.Now we’re going to start to learn the first ladder drill. The first ladder drill is split steps. You need to know how it should feel like and when it should happen on court when you first see the ball leave the opponents racquet.
Self Awareness | V14: Ladder Drill 2
Crossover Steps is the second ladder drill you will need to learn. This helps in tennis for when you need to crossover after you hit the ball. The progressions are to start in a wide base, cross your left foot in the ladder, land on the other side with a wide base, cross your right foot over. The key is to make sure that your toes are facing your opponent!
Self Awareness | V15: Ladder Drill 3
The third ladder drill will be focusing on the distance between your feet. The spacing between your feet is very critical if you want to become a good mover in tennis. So the drill is to put two feet in the ladder with one square between it. Then you have to jump through the ladder and maintain the space.
Self Awareness | V16: Ladder Drill 4
Another great ladder drill is the one where you step in and out. Make sure to first establish a wide base, then your right foot will step in and out of the ladder while your left foot stays outside the ladder. This drill is focusing on your right foot. One stays and the other one moves. This is a more general footwork drill designed to keep players on their feet.
Self Awareness | V17: Ladder Drill 5
This ladder drill helps players practice their bases or stances. In games, maintaining a strong base is just as important as being able to move fast around court. This drill will prepare for when players are in a situation where a semi-open stance is needed.
Self Awareness | V18: Ladder Drill 6
In tennis, one of the most important muscles are the Achilles muscles. The Achilles muscles is one of the main muscles maintaining stability and agility moving around the court. In this video, we will explain and demonstrate drills that help strengthen that muscle when practicing footwork on the ladder.
Self Awareness | V19: Ladder Drill 7
This Z- shaped foot drill can really help get going before you play. Even though this drill is an alternative for the jump rope, it is designated to keep your feet light on the ground. As we watch this video, you will see how this drill is done.
Self Awareness | V20: Ladder Drill 8
Just like the Z-shaped drill you saw in the previous video, this drill will be similar. In this drill, instead of doing the Z-shape one foot at the time, we use both feet. As we go through this drill, we work our Achilles muscle, our calf muscle, and our core. As we watch this video, it will teach you how to do this drill.
Self Awareness | V21: Ladder Drill 9
In this drill, we practice keeping our feet light, working our muscles, and our coordination. All of these listed above are what help you move on the court in games and in practice. This drill trains the player to move fast and stay on the balls on the feet.
Self Awareness | V22: Ladder Drill 10
In our last ladder drill, we focus on improving foot coordination with our split steps. This drill may seem very easy, but don’t be fooled- this drill can oftentimes greatly confuse players. Split sets are essentially the most important steps on court to stabilize and set up for each shot.
Self Awareness | V23: Cone Drill 1
Now we’re on to cone drills! Another way to develop great eye foot coordination is to use cones. It doesn’t have to be physical cones- you can always draw out marks on the floor to practice these drills. Our first drill is to jump from point one and two to three. Then, jump from three to four and five, and then back. This is sort of a hopscotch concept, one that should be fairly easy to practice wherever.
Self Awareness | V24: Cone Drill 2
The second cone drill is just another Z-shaped drill. This drill will work on your agility and footwork that will give players a great advantage on court. Once again, though this is called a cone drill, feel free to use any type of object or marking to replace the cones.
Self Awareness | V25: Cone Drill 3
For our third cone drill, we start by putting our feet at points 1 and 2. In this drill, the concept of hopscotch is used, and we practice hopping forwards and then backwards. Again, this is a drill that will train your feet to be light and fast on court.
Self Awareness | V26: Cone Drill 4
The fourth cone drill is to start at 1, then put your right foot at three, left to 4, right to 5, left back to 3, right to 2, and then left to 1. To be able to do this drill easily you have to be aware of your feet. Mastering this will allow you to change directions faster on court.
Self Awareness | V27: Cone Drill 5
For our last cone drill, you can have as many cones as you want and place them around the player like a clock. One person has to point to a cone and the other person has to step in that direction. This drill tests and improves your reaction time.
Self Awareness | V28: Box Drill 1
Now, we move onto our first box drill. Box drills are a good way to develop good foot-eye coordination. So now, in this video we will learn how to practice box drills using reaction coordination as well as hand and foot coordination.
Self Awareness | V29: Box Drill 2
When on the tennis court, we want to keep our feet light. So in this box drill we will practice foot-eye coordination, keeping our feet lively. Watch the video and see how we can train to move through the court with agility and speed!
Self Awareness | V30: Box Drill 3
Our third box drill will not only improve our eye coordination, but it lets us practice turning our hip and shoulders for when we’re about to make a shot. This move gives us a way to practice our angular momentum.
The END
Ean Meyer, a professional tennis coach since 1987. Over the years, I’ve worked with every level of player from beginner to professional, coaching tennis for over 25 years and have worked with many different levels of juniors and adults. In this time I have worked at high performance academies including Bollettieri’s, Seguso-Bassett, Evert Tennis Academy and most recently, the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute. I’ve been published in tennis magazines in Brazil, Venezuela, Italy, South Africa and the U.S. and have conducted seminars for coaches in different countries. My coaching philosophy is very simple: Develop strong Fundamentals in 4 areas – Technical, Tactical, Mental and Physical.
Visit his website at: https://eanmeyertennis.com and https://tennis.pro/
Source: tennisplayer.net archive — Self Awareness.docx (John Yandell teaching library, 2002-2022). Extracted and rendered as HTML for Tennis Future Lab.