Does anyone have any ideas for drills I can use to teach children?

Question

This summer, I'm going to be teaching a few kids, ranging from grades 4 through grades 7 some tennis. I realize that some might have a rather short attention span, but can't think of any game-like drills that I might be able to use, with the exception of "Beat the Pro", with small numbers of kids (I plan to take two to three kids per lesson). Anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

I am an assistant teacher for kids that age in my local town. Here are some of the games we play:

TENNIS BASE BALL-split the kids in half. have one half be the catchers, and the other half the hitters. feed the hitters ground strokes from baseline (or no-mans land) if they hit it over and someone catches it, their out, if noone catches it then they run to 1st base. 1st base is the corner of the servers line. 2nd base is middle at the net, 3rd base is corner of other servers line, we usually put colored dots to mark the base. If you feed the kid 3 balls and he dosent hit any of them over, thats 3 strikes and hes out back in line. Once the kids have had 3 outs they become catchers and the catchers become hitters. We usually play first one to 5.

ROLL OUT (good time killer)- split the kids in half. one half on one side of the court, the other half on the other side. have them spread out and feed one side a ball,  they then pass it or hit it over the net. Once the ball rolls, the other team gets a point. I usually go first team to 10 points.

KNOCK OUT- have a line at the serves line or base line.  feed them 1 ball, if they miss it (goes out or hits the net) then they loose a life. once theyve lost 2 lives their knocked out and they come over to the other side to try to catch another kids ball. if they catch another kids ball, then they knock them out, and their back over.

GOLDEN GATE-this game can be played with either tubes or cones. set up two tubes about a foot behind the baseline that the kids can run through. Have each kid hit 2 volleys and then try to run through the tubes. While their running through the tubes, try to hit them (gently) with some balls. if they get hit before they run through the gate then they get a point. Whatever kid has the least amount of points in the end wins.

Here are just a few, HOPE THIS HELPED!!.

Answer 2

There is this game that my coach uses with us and it's not easy or hard. It's good for a wide range of ages like you have. It's called Replace. It's a doubles game. It's pretty much like regular tennis but you split the kids in half and everytime someone loses the point for their team, the next person in line replaces the person who messed up. Good luck and have fun! :)

Answer 3

do you know around the world???  when it's like doubles ping pong.  half of the kids are on one side the other half on another side the kids rotate after every point

feed em balls

forehands, backhands, volleys, overheads, serves