Question on two particular tennis ball drills, worthwhile or not?

RightToBareKnuckles

RightToBareKnuckles

Brown Belt
@Brown
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
3,743
Reaction score
5,071
First of all, I was tempted to name the thread something like "benefits to playing with balls" just to make it click bait and get responses. Hopefully I don't need to do that. I also considered putting this in the Boxing forum, but the threads there seem mainly about upcoming events and stuff like that, not as much on training.

So there are these two tennis ball drills we do at the gym i go to, and I'm wondering if they have some benefit, or are crap. what are your thoughts?

drill #1 "hot potato" this is where like 3-5 people stand in a circle and literally toss tennis balls at each other. the goal is only have one ball at one time (hahaha i know), so you're constantly looking around to catch or throw a ball. the only benefit i see is it trains peripheral awareness...good for teh streetz?

drill #2 "tennis ball sparring" i've seen versions of this online where you tuck a tennis ball between chin and should and shadow box, only at this gym we try and knock/swipe another person's ball out. it seems ok, but there's a real risk of eye pokes because you're swatting near someone's face. i'd rather just spar light-medium.

in case you're wondering, i'm a 35 year old hobbyist. i just train for fitness, fun, and of course hopefully some degree of self defense ability. no goals of competing or anything. thanks!
 
RightToBareKnuckles said:
First of all, I was tempted to name the thread something like "benefits to playing with balls" just to make it click bait and get responses. Hopefully I don't need to do that. I also considered putting this in the Boxing forum, but the threads there seem mainly about upcoming events and stuff like that, not as much on training.

So there are these two tennis ball drills we do at the gym i go to, and I'm wondering if they have some benefit, or are crap. what are your thoughts?

drill #1 "hot potato" this is where like 3-5 people stand in a circle and literally toss tennis balls at each other. the goal is only have one ball at one time (hahaha i know), so you're constantly looking around to catch or throw a ball. the only benefit i see is it trains peripheral awareness...good for teh streetz?

drill #2 "tennis ball sparring" i've seen versions of this online where you tuck a tennis ball between chin and should and shadow box, only at this gym we try and knock/swipe another person's ball out. it seems ok, but there's a real risk of eye pokes because you're swatting near someone's face. i'd rather just spar light-medium.

in case you're wondering, i'm a 35 year old hobbyist. i just train for fitness, fun, and of course hopefully some degree of self defense ability. no goals of competing or anything. thanks!
Click to expand...

Both are good. I would only caution on the swiping, as you mentioned, someone may catch an accidental eye poke. Everything else sounds good. There are "tennis ball hats". I sometimes lightly punch the hanging cords from a ceiling fan for accuracy and hand eye coordination.

You can also take the tennis ball and bounce it to yourself while walking. Try jabbing at it to catch it. Bouncing, shuffling around it then catching it. Bounce it, and duck under then catch it, etc. Tennis balls underneath your chin to learn to keep it tucked is good as well. Tennis ball training is good.
 
I have a drill, where you lay on ground, and throw ball up into air, and then twist body to avoid being hit. As ball hits ground and bounce up, you have to sit up, and grab it, and then repeat. Its bad for your back if you do it on hardwood floors though.

Or you just have someone throw tennis balls at you up close, and you have to dodge or block. If you stand in the corner, they can bounce balls off wall, and hit you from side, so like a hook.

They really should invent a sparring robot
 
Last edited:
MadSquabbles500 said:
I have a drill, where you lay on ground, and throw ball up into air, and then twist body to avoid being hit. As ball hits ground and bounce up, you have to sit up, and grab it, and then repeat. Its bad for your back if you do it on hardwood floors though.

Or you just have someone throw tennis balls at you up close, and you have to dodge or block. If you stand in the corner, they can bounce balls off wall, and hit you from side, so like a hook.

They really should invent a sparring robot
Click to expand...

Why do they need a robot when you have perfectly goods humans to spar with........

Unless you really like robots ;) who am I to judge.........but I heard robot rape is on the rise......
 
FightGuyOpenMind said:
Both are good. I would only caution on the swiping, as you mentioned, someone may catch an accidental eye poke. Everything else sounds good. There are "tennis ball hats". I sometimes lightly punch the hanging cords from a ceiling fan for accuracy and hand eye coordination.

You can also take the tennis ball and bounce it to yourself while walking. Try jabbing at it to catch it. Bouncing, shuffling around it then catching it. Bounce it, and duck under then catch it, etc. Tennis balls underneath your chin to learn to keep it tucked is good as well. Tennis ball training is good.
Click to expand...

thanks, yeah the swiping has been hard to avoid since we've done it bare handed and without mouth guards, so if we jab we might pop someone in the mouth. i guess we can just throw in mouth guards haha. at least in the first Rocky i remember him walking around with rubber ball bouncing it
 
MadSquabbles500 said:
I have a drill, where you lay on ground, and throw ball up into air, and then twist body to avoid being hit. As ball hits ground and bounce up, you have to sit up, and grab it, and then repeat. Its bad for your back if you do it on hardwood floors though.

Or you just have someone throw tennis balls at you up close, and you have to dodge or block. If you stand in the corner, they can bounce balls off wall, and hit you from side, so like a hook.

They really should invent a sparring robot
Click to expand...

interesting, i might try the drill in the corner...thanks!
 
RightToBareKnuckles said:
thanks, yeah the swiping has been hard to avoid since we've done it bare handed and without mouth guards, so if we jab we might pop someone in the mouth. i guess we can just throw in mouth guards haha. at least in the first Rocky i remember him walking around with rubber ball bouncing it
Click to expand...

I think Loma does a lot of tennis ball work. Maybe watch some of his training vids to get ideas? I also bounce tennis balls off walls while side shuffing, helps me with the hand eye thing as well as lateral movement. Lateral movement can sometimes be neglected in training, unless you incorporate it in your roadwork or shuffle in the ring.

Yeah tennis balls are great. I got a decent concussion before, and I knew it was from backing up with my chin up, I kind of got hit like Ali did against Frazier. I started putting the tennis ball under the chin while shadowboxing after that. I knew if the tennis ball dropped then my chin was probably exposed. But yea, they work.
 
when i googled 'tennis ball boxing drills' one of his videos was the first to show, where he has the tennis ball hat. i'm still not convinced on the 'hot potato' drill, i feel like there are better options.

agreed on tucking the chin with the tennis ball! super important, sorry you got a concussion. i know this might be a topic for another thread, but it seems like few MMA fighers tuck their chin at all. most seem standing straight up...
 
RightToBareKnuckles said:
when i googled 'tennis ball boxing drills' one of his videos was the first to show, where he has the tennis ball hat. i'm still not convinced on the 'hot potato' drill, i feel like there are better options.

agreed on tucking the chin with the tennis ball! super important, sorry you got a concussion. i know this might be a topic for another thread, but it seems like few MMA fighers tuck their chin at all. most seem standing straight up...
Click to expand...

Lol if you swim you might get wet. Not tripping about it, comes with the game we play right? lol Plus I'd rather a friend catch me than some random while I'm out in town. A friend will help me back up, a random might fish through my pockets.

Some MMA fighters do stand square and expose their chins, but shhhh don't trigger anyone. Your thread is going good. lol
 
RightToBareKnuckles said:
when i googled 'tennis ball boxing drills' one of his videos was the first to show, where he has the tennis ball hat. i'm still not convinced on the 'hot potato' drill, i feel like there are better options.

agreed on tucking the chin with the tennis ball! super important, sorry you got a concussion. i know this might be a topic for another thread, but it seems like few MMA fighers tuck their chin at all. most seem standing straight up...
Click to expand...

I Googled Ping pong ball drills and got Thai girls....
 
im sure those drills do have some benefits in regard to hand eye coordination. So does ping pong. Perhaps break out the ping pong table at the end of each training session, lol. You see where Im going with this? I would not be too excited to be playing hot potato at the gym.

There are good drills with the tennis ball, the tennis ball hat being one of the best IMO.

Outside of that, I think the majority of the tennis ball drills are "extracurricular" training methods.
 
My coach does one where he calls a punch while throwing the tennis ball and you have to reach out and catch the ball with that punch. He also incorporates a pool noodle in the drill to work head movement between the catches.

It's pretty fun.
 
Got to love these generations, always looking for an easy way........
 
The only tennis ball drill I've done is just to increase reaction time and hand-eye coordination. Start a reasonable distance from a wall, toss it against the wall underhand, catch it overhand with the other hand. Toss it back.

Step closer to the wall. Repeat.

The closer you get, the faster you have to be. You can go toss and catch with the same hand too. I try to keep the other hand in guard while doing this
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,695
Messages
55,435,376
Members
174,774
Latest member
kilgorevontrouty

Share this page

Back
Top