Tips for teaching tennis to my girlfriend?

Question

She knows I'm really into tennis and said she's always wanted to learn. Basically all she wants to know how to do is get the ball into the court and be able to rally. She said she doesn't want to learn how to serve or even keep score.

I'm very technical and precise in the way I approach things and don't know where to begin. Should I work on footwork first, then try to show her how to hit groundstrokes?

Aside from getting her to learn tennis I want to make sure she has a lot of fun so she'll want to spend more time with me both on the court and off, so I don't want to be too serious.

Any tips for games or creative teching techniques? She's 21 so something that would interest someone of that age.

Answer 1

How did you learn?  Did you have fun while learning?

I would get a bucket of balls and start hitting balls to her.  That's what my mother did to us when we were kids.   Also, be patient and laugh a lot.  Also, set a time...perhaps an hour to practice with her so you both won't get frustrated.

If you could bring a little brother or sister along to learn too, it would be better.  Then you can hit balls to one, while the other collects the balls...then you can have them practice with each other.  (This is what I do when I teach table tennis.)

Answer 2

Obviously if she is really interested then she will pick it up easily. Work on ground strokes first. If she keeps hitting the net remember to remind her about how she moves her racket eg: from low to high, when to hit the ball. If she gets the ground strokes easily then she will be really happy and be really eager to learn more. Then if she isn't getting the ball or she keeps hitting it out teach her the footwork drills and how to get her feet in the right place. When I trained my sister i found out that she hated being told what to do so try to keep the commands coming as little as possible. but it may not be the same with her but Ive found the alot of girls don't like being told what to do all the time. Hope this helps

P.S i have trained kids and adults for a year and a half now. also if you want you can get books and cd's at most tennis centers new rackets come with info Cd's

Answer 3

honestly i wouldn't try to even show her footwork. she will pick it up from watching you. there's this great book out, the inner game of tennis, and one of the things it touches upon is the fact that people learn better visually. if you keep yelling at someone "lower your backswing!!" it may work for a while but the person will be over-thinking and eventually mess it up. they need to learn from watching people play. if you want to teach her how to play i suggest having her watch you and a friend hit and then to try to hit herself without having any instruction whatsoever. i think she will learn quickly enough just by seeing people hit.