Padel drills: 10 exercises for training with two, three or four players

Three rules that apply to all ten drills. First: count. Every drill has a target (ten volleys in a row, seven out of ten lobs in the zone). Without a number it's a warm-up, not a drill. Second: one theme per session. Twenty minutes of bandeja beat five minutes of everything. Third: progress. Once the target is hit twice in a row, the drill gets harder – smaller zone, faster ball, one step further back.

And: drills don't need a coach or a ball machine. A partner, a can of balls and a free court are enough – cheapest in the morning.

• 1. Volley chain. Both at the net, one ball volleyed back and forth without a bounce. Target: 20 in a row, then 30. Progression: cross only, then down the line only, then alternating. Trains racket position, short backswing, footwork at the net.
• 2. Bandeja-lob exchange. Player A at the net, B at the baseline. B lobs, A plays a bandeja deep into the corner, B takes the ball off the wall and lobs again. Target: 10 exchanges without an error. Progression: A must play the bandeja to B's backhand side. For the technique: learning the bandeja.
• 3. Back-wall defence. A feeds balls from the net into B's back-wall corner, sometimes hard, sometimes soft. B lets every ball hit the wall and plays it back – first high as a lob, then flat as a counter-attack. Target: 8 out of 10 balls back in court. The most important drill for tennis converts who reflexively take the ball before the wall.
• 4. Double-wall corner. Like drill 3, but A feeds the ball so it touches side wall and back wall. B has to read the trajectory and take the ball only after the second wall. Target: 6 out of 10. The drill that makes the difference between level 2 and level 3.

• 5. Serve-and-return series. A hits ten serves to the same side, B returns each – alternating a lob and a flat ball at the feet of the server coming to the net. Target: 7 out of 10 returns into the back half. Then switch sides. Trains the one exchange that happens in every single point.
• 6. Chiquita drill. A at the net, B at the back. B plays every ball as a chiquita – flat, soft, at A's feet – and A has to volley from below net height without attacking. Target: 10 chiquitas in a row with A contacting below the net. The chiquita is the shot that gets you from defence to the net.
• 7. Lob target zones. Mark two zones in the last metre before the back wall with cones or towels. B plays lobs from mid-court that should land in the zone; A feeds. Target: 6 out of 10. A lob that lands one metre short is a bandeja for the opponent.

• 8. Two against one at the net. Two players at the back, one at the front. The two at the back may only lob and play chiquitas; the front player has to take every ball out of the air. Rotate after ten points. Target for the net player: 5 out of 10 points. Trains bandeja and víbora under constant pressure – and the legs.
• 9. King of the court. Four players: one pair are kings at the net, the other attacks from the back. If the attacking pair wins the point, they move to the front. Whoever collects the most points at the king's end in 15 minutes wins. With more than four players the tournament planner runs the format including the scoring.
• 10. Count ball contacts. A normal match, but someone at the side counts shots and errors per player – with the Padelcounter it's a tap on the phone. Afterwards everyone knows how many of their points came from the bandeja and how many errors from the return. It's the most honest training diagnosis there is.

Two sessions a week: Session 1 = 20 minutes of drills 1 to 4 (net and wall), then 40 minutes of match. Session 2 = 20 minutes of drills 5 to 7 (serve, chiquita, lob), then 40 minutes of match. Three sessions: Add a pure 60-minute drill session with drills 8 and 9 in which nobody plays a match. Beginners stick to 1, 3, 5 and 7 for the first weeks – volley, wall, serve, lob – and leave out chiquita and víbora. Advanced players add ten minutes of double wall (drill 4) to every session, because that's where most points are lost.

Whether the plan works shows in the match after six weeks: fewer errors after the wall, more points won at the net. To measure it, play a counted match every six weeks with the Padelcounter – or enter a tournament, because nothing shows progress more clearly than a second appearance at the same level.

• Too much pace. Drills run at 70 percent power. Hit every ball flat out and you're practising errors.
• No target. "Let's hit a few bandejas" isn't a drill. Set a number, count, write it down.
• Always the same side. Play drills on both sides – forehand and backhand side, left and right of your partner.
• Drills without legs. Back to the starting position after every shot, otherwise you're training a movement that doesn't exist in a match.
• Wrong gear. Flat balls make every drill harder than necessary, a racket that's too heavy tires the arm after 20 minutes. What balls are worth and which racket suits you: padel balls and the racket finder.