Time:
60 minutes
Equipment:
Tail balls, foam or low pressure balls, racquets, ball hoppers, spots, teaching cable and small nets
1.Welcome/roll call (3 min.)
2. Warm-up
Follow the leader (5 min.)
Children follow a coach around the court, changing their type of movement according to the leader, who may:
- Walk or run
- Walk backward
- High step
- Gallop
- Side shuffle
- Skip
Slow stretches (2 min.)
Do the following stretches six times each, counting aloud to keep the class in sync:
- Roll neck left and then right
- Circle arms forward and backward
- Circle wrist of dominant hand forward and backward
- Trunk twists with arms spread like an airplane
3. Motor skills
Ball relay (5 min.)
Divide the class into teams. All teams start at the back fence. An equal number of balls are placed in hoops, boxes or hoppers by the net. Children (and their parent-coaches, alternately) must run, skip, jump, etc., to the basket, pick up a ball and return to place it in the basket by the fence. Each person has a turn in relay fashion until all balls are in the basket by the fence and everyone is sitting.
Walk the dog (5 min.)
Have the children use a racquet to push a ball to the net and back to the service line. When successful, have them try to push the ball along a court line or between cones.
4. Racquet skills
Demonstration (2 min.)
Demonstrate and have the children shadow the forehand volley, beginning at contact point in front of the body and punching forward.
Forehand volley progression (10-15 min.)
Hang up to five dangling balls on each cable. Place spots to correctly position kids. In all drills, stress contact point in front as the children:
1. Hit a stationary ball to understand the volley basics
2. Hit a ball swung gently by a parent-coach, who steadies the ball between hits as the child prepares to hit again
3. Hit consecutive balls, punching the ball with a controlled motion each time it swings back
- The best drills for this are "3 Club," "5 Club," "10 Club" and "World Record."
Pop-up volleys (5-10 min.)
Children are in a squatting position 3 feet from the net. The coach across the net randomly tosses balls to them. When the ball is tossed toward a child, that child pops up and hits a forehand volley. After a specified number of misses, they are out until the next game.
5. Final game/wrap-up/homework
Simon says (5 min.)
Play this game using objects such as tennis racquets, balls, beanbags, etc. Children should only obey the commands preceded by the phrase, "Simon says." Commands may be as simple as, "Jump on both feet," "Hold the racquet over your head with two hands," "Hold the beach ball and turn in a circle," or "Pretend to hit a forehand." Also, test parts of the court during the game.
Practice suggestions:
- Bump-ups with a balloon
- Volley a tossed ball
- Forehand drop and hit
