Time:
60 minutes
Equipment:
Racquets, foam or low pressure balls, spots, teaching cables and small nets
1. Welcome/roll call (3 min.)
2. Warm-up
Follow the leader (4 min.)
Everybody follows the coaches around the perimeter of the court twice, jogging the sidelines and doing crossover steps on the baselines.
Slow stretches (3 min.)
Have the students count aloud during the following stretches:
- Neck rolls --roll your head six times to the left and six times to the right
- Swing both arms --do six rotations to the left and six rotations to the right
- Roll dominant wrist --do six rotations to the left and six rotations to the right
- Ready, set, stretch --in starter’s block position, extend the right leg, then the left leg and hold each for six counts
- Windmill toe touches --alternate touching the right hand to the left foot and the left hand to the right foot for a total of 12 touches
3. Motor skills
Run the lines (5-10 min.)
This is a good drill to teach footwork and the lines of the court. Pupils line up at the baseline and doubles sideline. The pattern is as follows:
- 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 parent-coaches on the court to direct children.
Bump-up tennis -- solo (10 min.)
Use a foam ball the children can control to do the following skills. To add difficulty, do any of these drills in a limited space, taking only one step or while standing on one foot:
1.Bump-ups with a bounce --drop the ball and bump it up after the bounce, then let it bounce again and bump it up
2.Bump-ups --bump the ball and keep it from hitting the ground
3.Downs --use the racquet to dribble the ball
4. Racquet skills
Shot of the day (5-10 min.)
1.Demonstrate and have the class shadow the forehand drive introduced last week.
2.Demonstrate and have the class shadow the backhand drive using the same "shake hands" grip as on the forehand and beginning with a sideways stance. Show the backswing, forward swing, contact point in front of the body and follow-through.
Backhand progression on dangling balls (8 min.)
Hang up to five dangling balls on each teaching cable. Place spots to correctly position kids sideways to the ball. In all drills, stress contact point in front of the children as they:
1.it a stationary ball steadied by a parent-coach between hits
2.Hit a ball gently swung by a parent-coach, who catches it as the child prepares to hit again
3.Gently hit consecutive balls, using a controlled, compact swing
- Good drills for this are "10 Club," "20 Club," "30 Club" and "World Record."
5. Playing skills
Since a new shot has been introduced, have the children hit slightly more backhands than forehands during the playing skill drills.
No-net tennis (15 min.)
One-on-one, coaches should stand several feet from the children and gently hit groundstrokes to them, trying to keep a rally going and reminding them to "bump" the ball back gently. This may resemble the bump-ups with a bounce practiced earlier.
- Have parent-coaches stand with their backs to the fence to keep balls from spraying.
- Have an instructor and student demonstrate before the class begins playing.
- Allow the children to play freely, however, remind them of the shot basics.
While playing No-net tennis, rotate a few players at a time to the mr. peeWee nets to play Small-net tennis with an assistant coach or parent-coach.
Small-net tennis
A good ratio for this game is one assistant or parent-coach who can control the ball well to four or six students. The coach stands across the small net from two players who share the court as a doubles team. The coach should alternate balls to the players, reminding them to keep their feet moving between balls. After a specified number of balls played or minutes, the doubles team can be replaced with a waiting team.
- A parent-coach can help keep waiting children occupied at a safe distance.
- Spots can help children understand their positions on the court.
6. Review/homework (3 min.)
Practice suggestions:
Parents should participate with children on homework assignments, and everyone should warm up with standard exercises.
- Bump-ups with a bounce --give the child a goal for consecutive hits
- Bounce-downs --again, give the child a goal for consecutive hits
- Wall tennis --stress getting the ball back with control, consistency and some footwork to forehand stance
- No-net tennis --practice forehands with medium high bumps and consistency
