Beach wind: observe, adjust, re-test

Your practice card

0:00–0:03 — Check and describe

Use clear sand, one ball and a safe landing area away from other users. Look at an existing flag or windsock if available; describe the wind relative to your own playing direction: toward you, away, or across. No wind-speed estimate is needed.

Stop if conditions, visibility, loose objects or the net setup make practice unsafe. Do not throw sand to test direction. Use this instead of another practice block, not automatically on top of a full session.

0:03–0:06 — Five similar feeds

Mark a generous landing area with flat markers or footprints. A makes five gentle, similar tosses toward it from one starting spot. B watches from outside the landing area, then collects the ball after it lands. Record short, long, left or right from A’s viewpoint. Do not chase a drifting ball into another court.

0:06–0:09 — Change ends

Swap the throwing and observing roles and face the opposite direction. Keep the feed and intended target as similar as practical. Record five more tosses. Wind gusts, spin and differences in delivery can all affect the result: this does not isolate wind as the sole cause.

0:09–0:12 — Change one thing

Choose one small adjustment: a lower controlled feed, or a different starting position. Keep the other choices similar. Try five feeds and compare with your first notes. If the wind changes, write that down rather than calling the adjustment a success.

0:12–0:15 — Apply and decide

A now feeds gently to B, who forearm-passes back for A to catch. Swap after five. Notice whether early foot movement and a controlled platform help produce a reachable return. Easier: move closer and use a gentler feed. End with one adjustment to keep or undo.

Your observation record

Left and right are from the current thrower’s viewpoint. Labels can overlap: one ball may land short and left. Do not add the four counts into an accuracy percentage.

Date / people / safe location: ____________________

Wind relative to my direction / gusts noticed: ____________________

First five: short ____ long ____ left ____ right ____

Opposite direction, five: short ____ long ____ left ____ right ____

One change tested: ____________________

After change: ____________________ Next choice: ____________________

A short practice sample is not a forecast. Re-check conditions when they change; no serve, set or trajectory is guaranteed to behave the same way. Catches and tosses here are exercises, not legal rally contacts.

Take the card onto the sand

Free print-and-write PDF, with the session and blank observation record. No sign-up; not a fillable form.

A4 PDF US Letter PDF