Tennis is a very interesting type of game. It can be played by anybody regardless of age and sex as long as they are physically capable of playing the game. To play tennis you need excellent body-hand-feet-eye coordination. Tennis drills for kids are very important especially for kids who want to learn to play tennis.
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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