Five of HLTC's players keen to improve their tennis headed to the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton for a day's coaching.

The warmup was our first training session as we hit controlled rallies, progressing from the net to the baseline within five zones. Lesson learned: don't 'knock up' by immediately thwacking the ball from the baseline!

The four tennis coaches had lots of effective drills, including 'Beat the Bounce' to help prioritise footwork, move into position before the ball bounce and hit a confident shot.

There was lots of match point play including a great game to try at the club called 'Dingles' - four players hit two balls cross court until a rally ends and then the point is played out with the remaining ball - great at improving  concentration!

Few players like receiving a lobbed ball so it was great to learn techniques on reaching and returning it effectively.  The coaches were happy to help us individually, especially with our serves and even filmed us in action. This enabled them to show how we could improve this important part of our match play.

The day was relaxed but also instructive and concluded with a fun drill called 'Beat the Coaches' where we attempted to gain two successive points against the pros - not easy but great fun trying!