There are many tennis drills games for kids and junior tennis players, but the best ones focus on the fun element. Tennis games and drills based on fun will ease the learning process and entice children to want to learn to play tennis.
If kids and juniors are put through a vigorous workout regimen, they are far more inclined to burn out and give up on tennis. This is a nightmare for every tennis parent. Therefore, tennis drills games and activities should focus on a less competitive atmosphere, at least for kids learning the game initially.
Tennis Drills and Games #1: Pick Up 10
Pick Up 10 is one of our first tennis drills and games that needs at least 6 players. To start with, the team will be divided into two teams. Thus, if there are only 6 players, each team will be composed of 3 members. One of the players of each team has to stand at the center point of the baseline on their respective court.
The second player (for each team again) must stand at the back fence but in alignment with the first player. In each side of the court, a bucket with 10 balls in it is placed at the center part of the net. To determine which of the team to strike first, the coach makes a coin toss. The winning team is the striker.
The first two players of each team run towards the net. The member of the striker team (the team that won the coin toss) gets one ball from the bucket while the other player (the player of the non-striker team) just touches the bucket. They then turn and run quickly towards the baseline and stop at the point between the baseline and the service line. The striker then hits the ball towards the other team’s court and the rally begins. Each player must run as quickly so that they can to out run each other.
Like for example, the striker should outrun the receiver to put him out position when he returns. The receiver on the other hand, should outrun the striker so that he will be in position when the striker hits the ball. The drill continues with the second player in queue and so on until one team finishes all the balls in the bucket. The team that finishes all the balls first is the winner. The winner of the previous rally serves as the striker.
Tennis Drills and Games #2: Moon Ball Game
The moon ball game is our second set of tennis drills and games that helps players develop their singles and doubles tactics and techniques. This drill differs from other tennis drills games in such a way that players are not divided into two teams. Instead, they are grouped into pairs. The objective of this tennis drill is to beat the pair that is assigned as the champion team. Thus, the players are divided into pairs and one of the pair is called the champ while the others are called as the challengers.
To start with the Moon Ball tennis drills and games, the coach must feed the ball to the “champion pair” and one of the challengers (the other challengers are in queue waiting for their turn) tries to return the ball and the force the champ to make errors.
If the one challenger wins two consecutive points, they achieve the MOONBALL, which is when they can return a lob shot towards the champ team. After they hit the lob shot, they have to run quickly towards the champ court to hit their own lob shot back to the next challenger in queue. At this stage, this challenger becomes the new champ team and plays against the next challenger. This drill can be modified to suit the singles category. Thus, instead of a pair of players, only one player plays as champ or challenger. This is one of the tennis drills games that help players develop their strokes and quickness.
Tennis Drills and Games #3 : Team 105
This is one example of tennis drills games if the coach wants to entertain and at the same time allow his player students to learn the singles and doubles techniques.
This drill need 4, 8, 16 or 20 players for doubles drills and 2, 4, 6 or 10 for singles drill. The group is divided into teams. For doubles, if there are 20 students, two teams have five pairs each. And for singles category, each team must have 5 members if there are ten players involved.
In playing doubles, the first pair of each team plays first. If one pair losses, the succeeding pair of the team replaces them.
In the succeeding rallies, whoever misses a point has to be replaced by their own team. To make the drill more challenging and interesting, the scoring system should be done this way: 1 point = basic error, baseline winner shot= 5 points, net winner shot = 10 points and overhead winner shot = 25 points. The first team that scores 105 first is declared as the winner.
The same procedure is to be followed for singles except for a singles player instead of a pair.
Tennis Drills and Games #4: Space Invaders
This is one of the tennis drills games that aim to develop the players’ stroke techniques. Space Invaders is example of tennis drills and games that can be accomplished with more than two players. The players are divided into two equal groups. All the members of each groups stands on the baseline from one doubles alley to the other alley.
The feeder or the coach feeds the ball to the first player of one team and that player hits the ball towards the other team’s court and the play starts. Every time the one player misses his shot, he is considered out of the game. The game continues until one team losses all its players and the opposing team are declared as the winner.
Tennis Drills and Games #5: Olympics Drill
Olympics is among one of the most popular and fun tennis games and drills. The Olympics tennis game and drill starts by dividing the players into different pairs. In the beginning, one team is appointed as the “kings” team. This team stands on side of the court at the net while the other teams or pairs stand on the baseline. The objective of each team at the baseline is to replace the team at the net. There are two ways to do it. One is to hit a clear winner shot. And the second way is to score two consecutive points.
To start with the Olympics tennis drills and games, the coach feeds the ball to the team at the net and the first pair (who stands between the baseline and the service line) has to return and try their best to hit a winner or score two points first. If the team at the net wins, they maintain their position. However, if the other team wins, they replace the “kings” team.
For the winning team to successfully get the “kings” team position, they have to run quickly to the net (opposite court) before the next pair of players gets a lob. The new team has to hit the ball after it bounces on the ground. The drill only stops when a team on the net scores 10 points. This drill can also be played as singles, so instead of a pair of players contesting, only one player in each side of the court is involved during the play.
Tennis Drills and Games #6: Zone Ball Drill
Our last set of tennis drills and games is called the zone ball drill. This tennis drill got it’s name because the winning team has a chance to step up to another zone of the court or go down to a lower zone when they miss a shot.
Same as the above tennis games and drills, this tennis drill can also be used as drills for singles or doubles. For a doubles drill, the drill needs 4 players with two members in each team. Before the start of the drill, a “home team” is chosen. A coin toss can be done to choose the home team but other ways can also be applied. To start with the drill, the two teams stand on the service line or the so called Zone 2 on their respective court.
The coach then feeds the ball to the home team and the rally starts. The team that scores a point moves up to the net or what is called Zone 1. The team that misses the point has to move backwards to the baseline or Zone 3. Once a team is already at Zone 1, they have to score two points in a row to be declared as the winner.
If they miss a point, they have to go back to Zone 2. To develop each player’s quickness, the ball has to be feed very quickly to the home team for the players to run as fast as they could to their correct position. As the play continues, the winner team of the previous play serves as the home team. Again, same as the other tennis drills games, this can also be done with only one player on each side of the court.
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