Students in the 5- to 7-year-old group will sometimes miss striking the ball entirely. One way that I have found to reduce the frustration of these young students when they swing and miss a ball is to play the "make a save" game. To play the game, the student scores a point any time he hits the ball over the net and into the court. The instructor scores a point any time the ball touches the fence behind the student. When a youngster misses a ball that has been fed to him by the instructor, he must turn and run after the ball and attempt to stop it with his racquet before it touches the fence. If he stops it, he has made a save (keeping the instructor from scoring). The student is able to keep the instructor from scoring by either stroking the ball (and possibly scoring himself) or by "making a save" when he misses the ball. This fun game encourages the student by giving him a sense of accomplishment even when he has missed hitting the ball.