Time:
45 to 60 minutes
Equipment:
Racquets, spots, large, soft balls, or Koosh balls and tee
1. Welcome/roll call (3 min.)
2. Warm-up
Run the lines (5 min.)
Everyone follows the leader along the lines of the court, changing forms of locomotion each time they reach a new line. This is a good way to teach the lines of the court while children:
- Walk fast
- March
- Jog
- Hop on two feet
Do animal imitations:
- Swing your arms like the trunk of an elephant
- Gallop lightly like a pony, then heavily like a horse
- Take tiny steps like a mouse
- Flap your arms like a bird
Slow stretches (2 min.)
Have the children stop at a spot along a line. Keep the class in sync by counting aloud while doing the following stretches:
- Hands reach for the sky and then down to the toes
- Arm circles forward and backward
- Trunk twists with airplane arms and feet still
3. Motor skills
Catching and throwing skills (10 min.)
1. Form two or more lines and pass the ball up and down the line
2. With a parent-coach, have the children:
- Roll a large ball back and forth
- Bounce the ball back and forth
The child may have to trap the ball at first. Start with small bounces and stand close together. Move back as the child is successful.
Racquet introduction (5 min.)
Teach the children to hug their racquets for safety when they are not active in a drill. Explain the racquet parts and how some correspond to body parts:
- Head
- Face
- Strings
- Throat
- Handle/grip
Racquet holds (5 min.)
Let the children get used to handling their racquets by holding them in the following ways:
- Use two hands
- One hand
- In front of the body
- Behind
- High in the sky
- Close to the court without touching
- Palm up
- Palm down
- Touching strings only
4. Racquet skills
Forehands (10-15 min.)
Set up a tee so the children have a stationary ball to strike. Place spots where they should stand sideways to the ball to hit a forehand. Have them hit from one to five forehands in a row and get back in line.
- Parent-coaches can direct a line of children at another tee. Only the child hitting should have a racquet.
- If no tees are available, create a cable or rope across the court with dangling balls. Up to five dangling balls can be hung from the cable with stoppers between them so that five children at a time can hit forehands.
- The balls will swing away from each child and then back toward them. Balls can be caught and steadied between hits by parent-coaches.
Ball pick-up game (5 min.)
Let the kids fill their shirts with balls to carry back to your hopper, or make it a race to get several balls each.
Advanced – Have them carry balls on their racquets.
5. Final game/wrap-up/homework
Simon says (5 min.)
This is a great game for reviewing the points of the day’s lesson, plus simple motor skills. Direct the children to hold beanbags or Koosh balls on their racquets and follow only an order that Simon says:
- Take two steps forward, take two steps backward
- Lift the beanbag high, hold the beanbag low
- Put your racquet on the ground and pick it up without dropping the beanbag
- Pick up your racquet by the grip, then throat, then strings
- Practice the forehand swing
Practice suggestion:
Balloons are an ideal way to get children used to the idea of hitting a tennis ball. Give the children and their parents a homework assignment to play games with balloons.
