Even the Kids Love Tennis!

The sport of tennis is gaining popularity amongst younger players, even those as young as 4 or 5 years old. When teaching tennis drills to kids, make sure to select drills that are simple yet focus on the underlying fundamentals of the game. If the fundamentals are taught properly at a young age, younger players have a much better chance of remembering their basic skills throughout their lives. The following tennis drills are a great way to put the fun back in the fundamentals of the game!

When teaching tennis drills to kids, always make sure to fully explain the drill first before attempting it, and allow players a chance to ask questions before beginning to avoid any mishaps or injury that may occur. Keep a close eye on your players and their balls as they practice, since errant balls can cause twisted ankles if stepped on.

Through the Hoop

First, we have a drill known as Through the Hoop, since it requires a hula-hoop or other large circle-shaped object. Have the players stand in a line with the coach standing approximately 10 feet away with the hula hoop in hand. The coach slowly lobs a ball to players one by one who attempt to hit the ball through the hoop. For every time they score a shot through the hoop, they earn one point. This drill teaches young players accuracy when hitting the ball. Players may use their forehand, backhand, or underhand motions to hit the ball.

Baby hits, mama hits and papa hits

When teaching tennis drills to your beginner players, look for drills that teach different skills such as the amount of power put into each hit. This drill, called Goldilocks and the Three Balls, has players introduced to the concept of soft hits, medium hits and hard hits.

First, demonstrate the “baby hit” by hitting the ball very softly, the “mama hit” by hitting the ball to the middle of the court, and the “papa hit” by hitting the ball full court.

Next, have players line up at center court on the baseline with the coach on the opposite side of the net. Lob the ball towards players one at a time and as the ball is in mid-air call out which type of hit you’d like the player to use: baby, mama, or papa. This fun drill has kids learning how to control the amount of power put into each hit.

Finally, we have a fun drill introduces the concept of the forehand hit by having kids hold the racquet like a softball bat. Once again, have your players line up on the baseline at center court with the coach on the other side of the net.

The coach lobs the ball towards the players one by one who swing their racket like a softball bat at the oncoming wall. To help children build up accuracy with these types of hits, assign a point value to a number of different spots on the opposite court, such as ten points for the back wall and fifteen points for a chair in each corner of the court. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.