Machine Up and Back
Why this drill
The lob resets the court and most players' composure with it. Alternating soft kitchen feeds with deep lobs, the machine drills the full retreat-and-return cycle — track back, overhead, recover to the line — until the ball over your head is just another commute.
Setup
Machine at the opposite baseline set to alternate two feeds: a soft ball to your kitchen, then a lob landing around your mid-court. Interval generous enough to allow the full movement — lengthen it if the second feed beats you there. You start at your kitchen line. Clear runback space, always.
The drill
Dink the soft feed, then the lob goes up: turn sideways — drop-step, never backpedaling — track back behind the bounce point, and hit a controlled overhead deep, then recover forward to the kitchen line with a split-step before the next soft feed. Sets of eight full cycles. Score each cycle: 1 for an overhead landing past mid-court, plus 1 for arriving back at the line before the next feed — 12 of 16 is strong. When the legs get loud in cycle six, the drill is working; when form frays, stop the set, because backpedaling under fatigue is exactly the habit this exists to prevent.
One thought to take on court
Turn, run, set, swing — four beats, in that order, and the overhead takes care of itself.