TENNIS TIPS FROM CHRIS HASTINGS>>: FOCUS ON FUN!
Chris Hastings has been a member at Los Cab for nearly 40 years and has been teaching tennis here for the last 15. So he knows a thing or two about how to get the most out of his students and believes that the best way to achieve that goal is to make practice fun.
“If practice is too hard, players may not like it, but if you add an element of fun, they stay with it longer,” Hastings said.
To keep things enjoyable, he has a few go-to routines: 1) Two-on-one drills, with the solo player at the baseline and their opponents at the net. You rotate the players around so the player by themselves doesn’t get frustrated. 2) For those who are very fit and tournament-level players, there’s a drill where one person hits crosscourt and the other two go down the line. There’s a lot of running around since the player hits crosscourt, then has to run to the other side and go down the line. It’s great for developing footwork. 3) Five-on-five drills.
There are only two rackets per team, so after you hit a shot, you pass your racket to the person behind you. It’s very challenging – it helps with communication and staying focused. Hastings also said he encourages students to look beyond Los Cab’s 23 hard courts for ways to improve – whether it’s ping pong, pickleball, racquetball or squash — or simply using one of the club’s hitting walls to work on their strokes.
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