Hitting the Courts for Some Canadian Doubles
Alright, so I got out on the court the other day. Felt like mixing things up a bit, you know? Doing the same old drills gets boring. I remembered hearing about this thing called Canadian Doubles, sounded kind of intense, but figured why not give it a whirl. Needed something to really push my court coverage anyway.
Got two buddies with me, so it was perfect. We grabbed the balls and headed over to one of the courts. The setup is kinda funky. You basically have one player on one side of the net, trying to cover the entire doubles court by themselves. Then, on the other side, you have two players covering their doubles court like normal doubles. So it’s one versus two, but using the full doubles alleys.
We decided I’d start on the solo side first. Probably because I suggested it, figures. So, my buddies teamed up on the far side, grinning like they knew this was gonna be tough for me. And yeah, they weren’t wrong.
The point starts, usually with a feed or an easy serve. My main goal on the solo side? Just survive, honestly. Keep the ball deep, try to anticipate where they’re gonna hit it, and cover as much ground as humanly possible. It’s a real workout. You’re sprinting left, right, scrambling for drop shots, trying to lob over their heads if they creep up to the net.
- Lots of side-to-side running.
- Really forces you to hit smarter, not just harder. Aiming for the middle often works.
- You get good at reading where two opponents might hit next.
For the two guys on the other side, it’s different. They have the advantage, obviously, but they still need to work together. They have to decide who takes the middle ball, communicate, and try to exploit the gaps on my side. It’s easy for them to get lazy or confused if they don’t talk.
We played games up to 11, switching the solo player every game. Man, when it was my turn to be on the two-person side, it felt like a vacation after running ragged alone. But even then, you gotta stay sharp. Hitting winners against one person covering that much space isn’t as easy as it sounds if they’re playing smart.
What I found was:
- The solo player gets an incredible cardio and footwork workout.
- The solo player really improves their consistency and defensive skills.
- The pair gets practice in communication and putting away shots.
- It highlights any weaknesses in teamwork pretty quick for the pair.
We spent a good hour just rotating through this drill. Got super sweaty, definitely felt the burn in my legs the next day. It’s a fantastic drill if you have three people and want something that really tests different aspects of the game for everyone involved. Way better than just hitting crosscourt for an hour. Definitely keeping this one in the practice rotation.