Running Out of Drill Ideas? Try This “Plug-and-Play” Lesson Plan Coaches Swear By
By Jorge Capestany, RSPA Master Professional, and PTR International Master Professional
Let’s be honest… It’s not that you don’t care.
It’s that you’ve run the same drills so many times that even you are getting bored, and your players can feel it.
Most high school and club coaches don’t struggle because they lack effort. They struggle because they don’t have a repeatable system for building practices.
So every day becomes: “Hmm… what should we do today?” That’s exhausting.
The Shift: Stop Thinking “Drills”… Start Thinking “Structure”
The best coaches don’t rely on random drills; they rely on a plug-and-play practice formula.
Here’s one you can use immediately:
Proven Lesson Plan Templates
Over the years, I’ve bounced back and forth in my use of lesson plan templates.
There were years when I was dedicated to always walking onto the court with a printed physical lesson plan in hand,
Ten years ago, there were years when I told myself, “I’ve got to do it on the fly.” I knew enough just to read the situation and come up with a drill on the spot.
The truth is, I was best when I had a written lesson plan.
But what would that lesson plan consist of, and should I have different lesson plans for different types of classes, like kids, adults, and high-performance?
Ultimately, I decided I needed three categories of lesson plans to cover all the classes I was teaching.
These included:
Category 1: 10 & Under programs, including the classes listed below:
These templates include additional warm-up and agility drills because today’s youngsters have less athletic experience than their predecessors.
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Red 1: Ages 5-6 (pre-rally): These players cannot rally the ball yet, so we use a separate set of drills for them.
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Red 2: Ages 5-6 (can rally): These players can rally and have more experience, so we use the same lesson template.
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Red 3: Ages 7-8: These players are older, but we use this same template because the class still uses a Red 36’ court.
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Orange: Ages 9-10: These players have progressed to the 60’ Orange courts. We now start using a slightly different lesson plan template for these players.
Category 2: Junior & Adult Recreational level. This covers most of the players we teach with ratings between 2.5 and 4.5.
This template includes training in each of the 5 play situations of tennis, which are;
1. Serving
2. Returning
3. Baseline Play
4. Net Play
5. Passing shots & Lobs
– Ends with a fun class-ending drill
Category 3: High-performance players that can be junior or adults.
This template also includes training for each of the 5 play situations, but ends with point or match-play.
1. Serving
2. Returning
3. Baseline Play
4. Net Play
5. Passing shots & Lobs
– Ends with point or match play.
You can download an editable version of all our Lesson Templates using the link below.
Swipe Editable Lesson Templates – Click Here!
A Closer Look…
Since our most commonly used lesson plan is the category 2 plan, let’s detail what it includes.
You will notice that we base this lesson plan on the 5 play situations mentioned above.
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Warm Up Activities (5-10 minutes)
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This includes dynamic warm-ups with and without a racket.
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Baseline Drills (one of the play situations)
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This is a variety of consistency- and competitive-baseline-themed drills from the website.
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Net Play Drills (one of the play situations)
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We use a variety of net-themed drills when at least one player or team is at the net.
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Serve & Return Drills (two of the play situations, practiced together)
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We use drills from the serve drills library, which often use targets, scoring, and competitions to make it fun.
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Passing Shot & Lob Drills (one of the play situations)
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Mostly drills that have one player (or team) at the net and the other at the baseline
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Fun class-ending Drill
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We use drills we know the players love. We want to send them home energized and excited to return.
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Why This Works
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You never start from scratch again. You just pick the drills to use and plug them into your chosen lesson template.
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Players feel like practices are organized and have a purpose (Coach is not winging it).
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You can swap drills in/out without changing the structure.
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The template helps you run an organized practice that covers all your players’ needs.