However, there are other considerations to think about in teaching kids on how to play tennis. Kids normally like to play rather than work, therefore it is important that the tennis drills for kids be informative but at the same time they should be enjoyable to avoid boredom. The tennis drills for kids should be more interactive to get their attention. Below are some of the fun and exciting tennis drills:

Hit and Recover Tennis Drill for Kids

From the name itself, this tennis drill for kids is important to learn the proper recovery after each shot. The feeder will feed the ball wide to the student’s forehand and backhand side. The student must then recover to their original position in the center of the court in preparation for the next shot. This drill is also done to help the kids not to be out of position once they hit the ball.

The coach is positioned on the opposite side of the court while the student is positioned on the other side of the court in the service box. Feed the ball to the different side of the court allowing your student to run for the ball and at the same time run again to return to his or her original position (service box). The coach has to feed the ball alternately in both side and he can also feed the ball behind the student or in the baseline.

“Quick Footwork” tennis drill for kids

Since tennis is a game that requires the coordination of body and foot movements, footwork drill is also a must. This tennis drill for kids will teach and train the tennis footwork along with speed and agility. At the end of the drill, the students should be able to run as fast as they could and should be able to learn some of the basic steps used in tennis game.

This drill is performed by allowing the student to stand next to a post with a height of 15-20 cm. the student then has to jump over the cone in sideways direction. To make this drill more effective, the student should not stop in between jumps. Twelve jumps are ideal for each student but if a student can do more the better. Let the student rest when he is tire, but repeat the drill for at least three intervals. Avoid over tiring the student as this might discourage him to her to do it again.

Simon Says Tennis Drill for Kids

The Simon Says Tennis Drill for kids is employed in order for the student to learn and practice the different tennis strokes and to familiarize their names. It is very necessary for the students to know the names of the strokes they are performing.

To execute this drill, several students are needed. The coach positioned himself near the net while the students are horizontally lined up in the service line of the opposite side of the court. This time the each student has already rackets in their hand. The distance between each player should be wide enough for each of them to swing their racket fully. Before the start of the actual drill, the coach should demonstrate to the students the different strokes such as backhand, forehand and overhead shots.

The actual drill starts once the students are already knowledgeable of the names of the different strokes. The coach would say “Simon says” backhand, the students then swing their rackets in backhand stroke. The coach then repeats the drill using the different strokes. The coach can check if the student are executing each stroke properly by saying “freeze” and then he checks each student’s position. This drill can be made into an interesting and competitive one by eliminating the students who made mistakes. The winner is declared until only one student is left.

Bouncing game tennis drill for kids

This drill can also be used as warm up exercise for the kids. The main objective of this drill is to develop the students’ hand and eye coordination. This drill is very simple but it can be fun and interesting for the kids not to get bored easily. It can be played simply by allowing the students to bounce the ball using the racket alone. Throw the ball up and catch it with the racket and let it bounce in the racket again and again without touching the ball. The student can also do the ball bouncing in the ground just like in basketball, but instead of using the hand, the student uses his racket. The drill can be done in a more complicated way by doing the racket ball bouncing and ground ball bouncing alternately.

“One Minute” drill tennis drill for kids

This drill can be played with only one student. The coach needs a stopwatch to perform this drill. The student is positioned in one side of the court in middle of the service line while the coach is positioned in the opposite court.

The timer serves as a test as to how quick the student moves. Once the timer is set, the coach feeds the ball to the different side student and the student then run as fast as he or she could and hit the ball. After he hits the ball, he should return to his position. A single correct hit is considered a score. The drill continues until the one minute time is finished. As the drill continues, the number of hits should increase

Horse

A fun and exciting tennis drills for kids is the game of HORSE on the tennis courts. Horse is a tennis drill that will assist you to work on your consistency and ability to hit well under pressure. Stand on one side of the court; your opponent stands on the opposite side. Then section off an area of the court into which each of you must hit. For example, you can extend the center service line back to the baseline; use the section created by that line, the baseline, the service line, and the sideline. The player who lands a shot outside of this area receives a letter. Play to areas that are crosscourt from each other, or mix it further by moving forward and playing within the service boxes.

In this tennis drills for kids, the students can continue with the same targets or vary them throughout the tennis drill. The winner of each rally gets to choose the next target area. Playing from the baseline will benefit your ground strokes, while moving up will benefit your short angles. The first player to spell HORSE is the loser. Among tennis drills, this is one of the most entertaining tennis drills that allow you to work on your consistency and ability to produce shots under pressure.

Alligator Tennis Drill for Kids

This drill needs at least four students, and then let them stand in straight line alongside the net. The coach, who is positioned on the other side of the court, feeds the ball to each student one by one. The first student has to hit a volley and then run to the baseline of the court. This student has to do it perfectly, which means he or she has to hit the ball and lands it in the opposite court or else the alligator (imaginary of course) will eat his one arm, forcing him to hit his next ball with only one arm.

The next time he comes to the net, his other arm should be put behind his back with only one arm to use. The other students will undergo the same process until all the students finished their first hits. After the first hits, the students go back to the net and the coach feed the ball again. If a student consecutively misses a hit, this time the alligator eats his or her one leg forcing him or her to skip towards the baseline. The drill continues until all the legs and arms of each student are eaten by the alligator.

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There are many tennis drills for kids, but only the ones based on fun and exciting game based concepts will fully foster a creative learning environment for the children. Perhaps kids tennis drills are the least intense, but they help children improve their tennis faster through learning the basics of the game while having fun.

Kids Tennis Drills in Developing a Child’s Game

Most great champions in the game of tennis started learning the game at a very young age. This is usually around 5-7 years of age. Probably the youngest ever to learn the game was the former prodigy Martina Hingis, who was taught by her mother when she was only 2! It’s no wonder that she set all the youngest-to records in the history of the game. If your little one shows any interest in the game, wouldn’t you, being the supportive parent that you are, try to give him or her the best chance for developing to his or her maximum potential? And even if the talent isn’t quite there, but the interest is, why not make the whole learning experience as much fun as possible?

The Basics of Kids Tennis Drills

Kids tennis drills are designed differently than ordinary drills for adults. The objective remains the same, which is to teach the correct basics of tennis, from stroke production to footwork to on-court behaviour. But the designs of these drills are meant to appeal to their age group. This only means that these drills have to be a lot of fun! Kids have much shorter attention spans than adults so it can be tough to keep them interested in what they’re doing. If the drills are fun, they are much more likely to keep being attentive.

As kids grow up, their concept of fun rapidly changes. What was fun a year ago won’t be fun anymore now. We all know that there is huge difference between what a 4 year old finds enjoyable as compared to a 7 year old and a 10 year old. So another key characteristic of kids’ tennis drills is that they are creative and flexible. As long as these drills teach the correct elements of the game, they are useful. Drills should also be interactive.

Kids Tennis Drills Are Fun and Exciting

If you search the web for kids’ tennis drills, you will find so many different drills invented by different coaches. They all have unique and fun-sounding names like “Simon Says” and “Horse.” These are meant to take familiar children’s games and apply them into the methodology of kids’ tennis drills. You will also notice that the “Simon Says” drill described on one tennis instruction website may possibly be a little different than the one of the same name on another similar website. Inventing catchy names for these drills is always advisable. In short, kids’ tennis drills should be fun age-appropriate interactive games with rules that reinforce the correct mechanics and principles of the game of tennis.

Kids’ tennis drills should always be clearly explained. Safety precautions are also very important, since kids are usually running around all over the place and you wouldn’t want any of them tripping and hurting themselves over any balls that may be lying around the court.

The following are few examples of kids’ tennis drills:

Kids Tennis Drills #1: Hula Hoops

The children line up while the coach stands approximately 10 feet away holding a hula hoop or any similar object. The coach feeds the ball to the players and they must try to hit the ball through the hoop. This develops control and accuracy.

Kids Tennis Drills #2: Different Shots

The coach demonstrates three kinds of hits – soft, medium and hard. The children stand in line behind the centre of the baseline and the coach takes up his position on the other side of the net. As he feeds the ball to the students, he tells them to hit it soft, medium or hard (he could also use the terms baby, mama and papa). The students must hit the ball accordingly. This teaches control.

Kids Tennis Drills #3: Freeze

When the students are already beginning to learn how to swing the racket for the basic shots (forehand, backhand and serve), have them line up along the service line. There must be enough space between each player for them to take a swing with their rackets without fear of accidentally hitting any other player. The coach calls “forehand,” “backhand” or “serve” and the students go through the motion of the stroke called. Additionally, the coach may call out “freeze” in mid-swing in order to check if there are fundamental errors in technique. These errors are then quickly corrected on the spot. Many websites call this the “Simon Says” drill.

Kids Tennis Drills #4: Court Positioning

The student stands at the centre of the service line or baseline, depending on his or her ability. The coach is on the other side of the net. He feeds the ball to the forehand corner and the student must run to hit it. The student must immediately go back to the centre of the court. The coach feeds the ball again, this time to the backhand side. The student runs to the ball and hits it, but he must get back again to the centre of the court before the next hit. For more advanced players, the coach may direct the ball randomly (instead of alternately) to either forehand or backhand side. This teaches the importance of court positioning.

Kids Tennis Drills #5: Three Strikes

This next kids’ tennis drill has a few variations but basically it goes like this: the players line up with the first player standing at the centre of the baseline or service line, depending on skill level. The coach feeds the ball to the first player. He or she must hit the ball over the net to the opposite court. Again, depending on skill level, it may be enough of an objective to simply get the ball over the net. For higher skill levels, the requirement is to make the ball land within the lines of the opposite court. It may be the singles or doubles court, but it must be consistent for the whole group of students. If a student fails in his attempt, he is given one strike. He lines up again.

A second miss means strike two; a third, strike three and he’s out. He’ll have to sit out one rotation. Alternatively, there are versions of this drill where the players are given four or more chances, in which case, the game is named Hangman, Alligator or Go To Bed. It can also probably be called FAIL or LOSE (with the letters representing each missed shot).

Kids Tennis Drills #6: Horse

The Horse game is usually associated with basketball, but there is a variation that can be applied as a kids’ tennis drill. This, however, is for more advanced players who can already control their shots to specific locations on the opponent’s court.

One player will have the privilege of calling the first shot. He should specify a target area on the court, like the corners or the near the side T. If he hits a cross court forehand, the other player must also hit a cross court forehand. The first player to miss gets the letter H. He then choses the next shot that they will be hitting. If he misses again, then he gets the letter O and so forth until HORSE is spelled. This drill is usually limited to crosscourt groundstrokes.

Kids Tennis Drills #7: Ball Bouncing

A common kids’ tennis drill is the dribbling drill or ball-bouncing drill, where the child tries to constantly bounce the ball off his racket or dribble the ball using his racket. The student will try to keep it up as long as he can. A more challenging version would be for the child to walk on a predetermined path while doing this drill. It is a good warm up drill and it develops a player’s hand-eye coordination.

Learning from Kids Tennis Drills

There are so many more drills that can be devised for kids. Just keep in mind the basic principles: the drills have to be fun, innovative, flexible, interactive and also safe. Above all, they have to reinforce the correct fundamentals of the game. By keeping the learning process enjoyable, you increase the chance that the child will want to stick with tennis and possibly even become one of the future stars of the game.

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The Modern Forehand Domination Ebook is guaranteed to improve your tennis technique, and increase power, topspin and accuracy of your tennis forehand!

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Learn How to Hit a Forehand Like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic

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