Week 16

This week was all about fundamentals and repetition. I drilled baseline drives relentlessly—working on footwork, positioning, and getting my weight through the ball. Monday started with an adaptation of last week's centerline drill, with one of us blocking drives while the other attempted passing shots. By Wednesday, I could feel the difference—my drives felt great, footwork improved, and I was finally finding my distance consistently.

We mixed in kitchen work too, including the "Dinkels" drill on Tuesday (cross-court dinks until someone misses, then yell "Dinkles!" and play it out). Wednesday we focused on deceptive swings and hard roll dinks, though I struggled with finishing my putaways.

Thursday we doubled down on baseline drives, especially down-the-line shots, with a new variation that had us shuffling around tubes to reinforce proper footwork.

The biggest improvements? My backhand drive feels significantly more comfortable, my kitchen game continues to strengthen, and my footwork has taken a major leap forward. Still need work on speed-up placement and incorporating more resets instead of always countering.

• Speed-Up Placement: On speed-ups, I'm still just reacting without thinking about placement. I need to develop another level of awareness to place these shots strategically rather than just hitting them back.
• Reset Mentality: I always try to counter when I should be resetting. Need to incorporate more resets to slow down points when I'm out of position instead of always trying to match pace.
• Footwork Consistency: While my drives are improving, film review shows my footwork still needs work. I need to find better spacing on drives and be more consistent with my positioning, especially when moving through the transition zone.
• Finishing Points: I'm setting up attacks well but struggling with putaways. I need to convert these opportunities into winners more consistently to take my game to the next level.

No single moment stands out as a breakthrough, but my overall comfort with drives after a week of relentless drilling is the real victory. My footwork jumped to another level—I can feel it in my positioning and weight transfer. My backhand drives in particular took a significant leap forward, something that's been a struggle for months. After hundreds of repetitions, the movement patterns are finally becoming second nature. It's those small, unglamorous improvements that add up to real progress.

Next week will be a change of pace—Cam's out of town, so it's just Dru and me. The plan is to balance skill work and match play: drilling twice to focus on my footwork + resets on the run, then playing twice to implement what I've learned and continue building my speed-up/counter game. Without Cam's watchful eye, I'll need to be extra mindful about maintaining proper technique under pressure.