Welcome to Super Excellence, an advanced level tailored for players engaged in local (district) tournaments and, if eligible, participating in their varsity high school tennis teams. Our group instruction focuses on honing ‘shot-making’ skills from all corners of the court, accompanied by the exploration of diverse play ‘patterns.’ For more information, feel free to reach out to our Director of Junior Tennis. We encourage players to continue their competitive journey through USTA Jr. Team Tennis, USTA Tournaments, and In-house tournaments.
Competencies – What we teach our players
Agility
- Maintain dynamic balance during multi-directional movement
- Shift weight toward the inside on lateral change of direction
Balance
- Maintain dynamic balance during single leg jumping exercises
Coordination
- Show complex coordination of hands and feet
Speed
- Sound running form with rapid acceleration
Ready Position/Recovery
- Use of ready position with racquet above the hands and elbows away from body
- Use of quality split step and first step to the ball
- Use of cross-over and shuffle steps depending on distance from recovery position
- Recovery after shot based on optimal position and situation
Serve
- Serve with a continental grip with a coordinated, balanced, and rhythmical action
- Control the serve to different positions based on tactical decisions
- Use of flat and slice serves (topspin is developing)
Net Game
- Use a continental grip with firm wrist at contact while getting the outside leg behind the ball
- Volley back to a baseline player with control in a cooperative rally
- Recognize a short ball and move into the net quickly
- Use of front foot hop step to approach the net on lower short balls
- Follow the direction of the ball to the net, time the split step, and continue moving in to finish
- Finish the point with a soft angle volley
- Control overheads to the deuce and ad court
Groundstrokes
- Return down the middle or cross court o of aggressive serves and attack off of weaker serves
- Use of topspin with consistent control of depth and direction
- Begin understanding offensive and defensive positions
- Recognize short, neutral, and deep balls
- Take balls on the rise when needed
- Use various forms of footwork: open, semi-open, and square stances depending on situation
- Use patterns to build points with the purpose of creating open space
- Begin using specialty shots (e.g. drop shots, lobs, one and two shot passing shots)
Slice
- Begin to develop slice approach on the backhand and use slice on defense when necessary
Score
- Begin to manage tactics based on the score
Engagement
- Listening to the coach
- Trying to execute the drill the correct way
Energy and Effort
- Run for every ball
- Maintain effort throughout the entire duration of the practice
Attitude
- Use of positive emotions
- Being positive in challenging situations