Any ideas for fun, creative, original games to teach extreme beginners/6-8 year olds tennis?

Question

I'm a high school tennis player coaching our local community lessons. There are only 3 of us coaching and we have about 8 kids to a court. These kids are extreme beginners, with little strength or hand-eye coordination. Does anyone have ideas for games that we could play with them. I need games to keep them moving, and keep their down time to a minimum. I know the game jail, so anything other than that please. THANKS

Answer 1

How about tennis tag: divide the kids into two teams. Have one member from each team at the net. The other members stand somewhere behind the baseline in a queue . You and another coach feed the kids at the net balls. They must successfully hit the ball into the service box on the opposite side of the net. If they  miss they must try until they get it. After they are successful they must run back and tag a teammate who must come to the net and do the same thing. The team who is most successful after all the balls are played wins.

After they start to get better you can make them hit inside the court just beyond the service box then increase the difficulty by setting up a cone or an empty ball can and forcing them to hit it or a specific mark before they can go back and tag their teammate. The losing team must pick up balls while the other team gets to laugh and point. =)

Here's another: the tennis leapfrog. Have them line up at the baseline. After you feed a ball to the first kid s/he must squat down while the kid behind leaps over him/her to the front of the line while the other one moves to the back. These are probably sound wierd but they're kids they'll love it.

Answer 2

Well, there are so many games, you could always look some up on the web or even buy a book with some beginner games. Here are some of my favorites...

AROUND THE WORLD: on the court, put 4 kids on one side, and the other 4 on the other. only one coach is needed for feeding the balls, and it is quite simple. All you need to do is the coach feeds one ball, and the person first in line hits it and quickly runs to the other side, and waits in line for her/his turn next. one by one, each child will hit and run across to the other side, and if one misses or can not get the ball in and over the net, they are out. Finally, when it is down to the last two people, place one person on one side, and the other on the other side. instead of running to the other side, they just need to touch the ground, or spin around once. This game tests their consistency and keeps the game moving. To make it even more fun, you could elimination, which is when one person called Annie for example gets out by another person, let's say Bobo, when Bobo gets out, then Annie is back in the game, the way to win it, is for one person to beat every single person. btw, the coach only needs to feed the ball when one is out or misses, other wise, the game practically goes on by itself.

RIP YOUR FACE OFF: even though it is called a quite bad game, it is fun and most kids enjoy it. So seperate the children into groups of 4, just half and half, one half on a side, and the other on the opposite side. again u only need one coach to feed the balls, and the game is just one person hits the ball, and goes to the end of their own lines, and just rotate in and out. if one misses the ball in some way, they need to stand inside the service box, (any where in there) and tries to hit the ball from that position, anytime when they think it is most suitable. so if the person at the net misses, the team member that was first in line gets out and needs to sit in the servic box, but if they make it, the person who got out, gets up and gets to go back in line. This game is sort of a team game, and it is quite fun if coaches can play in too. a team wins when the other team's players are all sitting in the service box. u can also play the elimination version, is if Annie gets out by Jared, and Jared gets out, Annie is back in, so it can go longer...

MAN'S VOLLEY: This is a really fun game which is four people at a time, u could have the rest of the four pick up balls while u play this game with the other four. So they are lined up, horizontally across the court near the net, in the position they are about to volley. so as the coach, u feed the ball to them, one by one, and letting them volley. if they make it, they stay in the position or go up one position, but if they miss it, first they go down on one knee, if they miss it again, they go down on both knees, kneeling, if they miss it again, they sit down completely, if they miss it again, they lie down, and if they miss it from there, they are out of the game, and the next person is in. to make it faster, u can just say, even if u make it, stay in the position, make sure the feeds are to their level and fun for them. u can also make it up along the way.

CONDITIONING: is also really fun, u can make the children do conditioning (light) as warm-ups, and some stretches, u can find some on the internet, and then let some children make some up, or even demostrate. u could let them do a few pushups, situps, running a few laps around the court, and lines, or some running that can make them tiring.

PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE: I don't know if this is the same as jail, but there are a line of children and they hit it, if they miss they go to the principal's office, whcih is on the side of where u feed it, and the person tries to catch the ball, if they miss they do one pushup, if they make the catch, they go back on the other side.

BALL TAG: the coach rolls many balls trying to tag the eight children by having the ball tag their feet. they just run back and forth trying to avoid the balls.

Hope this helps, and u can try to look some up on the internet, it make it some entertaining, make some awards like the team that won gets a treat, or doesn't need to pick up balls, u can always make it up.

GOOD LUCK!