Time
:
60 minutes
Equipment
:
Racquets, foam or low pressure balls, hula hoops, spots, teaching cables and small nets
1. Welcome/roll call (3 min.)
2. Warm-up
Follow the leader (4 min.)
At the leader's signal, children must change to a different type of movement while traveling around the perimeter of the court. Have them:
- Walk fast
- Jog
- High step or march
- Side shuffle
- Hop on one foot, alternating
Slow stretches (3 min.)
Have the children count aloud while doing the following stretches:
- Neck rolls -- roll six times to the left and six times to the right
- Arm swings -- do six rotations forward and six rotations backward with each arm
- Ready, set, stretch -- in a starter's block position, extend the right leg, then the left, and hold each for six counts
- Wrist rolls -- do six rotations forward and six backward with each wrist
3. Motor skills
Run the lines (5-10 min.)
Pupils line up at the baseline and doubles sideline to walk and then jog the lines. Have them hold a ball on their strings as they follow this pattern:
- forward along the doubles sideline to the net,
- sidestep across to the singles sideline,
- backward along the singles sideline to the service line,
- sidestep across the service line almost to the T,
- up the center service line to the net,
- sidestep to just across the center service line,
- backward along the center service line to the service line,
- sidestep to the singles sideline,
- up to the net,
- sidestep to the doubles sideline,
- backward along the doubles sideline and
- sidestep across to the center hash mark.
Use spots and position parents to help direct children.
4. Racquet skills
Bump-up tennis with a partner (5-10 min.)
1. Bump-ups with a bounce -- do bump-ups with a bounce and have parent-coaches and children alternate hits.
2. Place a target or hula hoop on the ground between the players, who try to bump up the ball so it lands on the target.
Shot of the day -- tracking footwork (5-10 min.)
1. Demonstrate and have the children shadow groundstrokes from ready position using a pivot turn, backswing, step and follow-through as previously learned.
2. Demonstrate and have the children shadow tracking footwork, using sidesteps or shuffling to move left and right while facing the net, then making the pivot turn and completing the stroke as above. For example, do "shuffle, shuffle, turn, step, hit forehand," and then regain ready position before doing "shuffle, shuffle, turn, step, hit backhand." In this and future lessons, progress to "shuffle, shuffle, hit forehand, shuffle, shuffle, hit backhand," with no pause in between.
Groundstroke tracking progression on dangling balls (10 min.)
Hang up to five dangling balls on each teaching cable. Place spots to correctly position kids as they pass through the drills. Stress contact point in front of the children.
Line up all pupils at one end of the cable slightly behind the line of balls. In ready position, they sidestep to the first ball and pivot turn and hit, then continue to sidestep and hit each ball in the line. The children hit a stationary ball, steadied by a parent-coach before the next child comes through.
5. Playing skills
No-net tennis (10 min.)
Parent-coaches toss balls wide for the children to track and then pivot, step and hit. The child tries to hit the ball back to the coach so it can be caught. The ball likely will not stay in play as well as in previous versions of no-net tennis.
- Have a coach and student demonstrate before the class begins hitting.
- To keep balls from being sprayed, parent-coaches should have their backs to the fence.
- Allow child to play freely, but gradually stress basics learned in previous forms of no-net tennis.
Small-net tennis (10 min.)
A good ratio for this game is one assistant or parent-coach who can control the ball well to about four students. The coach stands across the small net from a singles player and hits gently, but wide enough so the child must track the ball with sidesteps. Let each child hit at least five balls during each turn.
- A parent-coach can keep waiting children occupied at a safe distance.
6. Review/homework (3 min.)
Practice suggestions:
Parents should participate with children on homework assignments, and everyone should warm up with standard exercises before playing:
- Bump-up tennis with and without a bounce
- Wall tennis -- stress footwork
- No-net tennis -- tossing wide and reminding child to track the ball, pivot, step and hit. A parent tries to catch the ball and then tosses it to the opposite side. If the parent has playing expertise, he or she may gently hit these balls instead of toss them.
