It’s hard to force kids to do anything without giving off the idea that it’s going to be a fun activity. That’s why it’s better to not use the word “drills” if you’re trying to find ways for them to continue cultivating their love of tennis while also honing or enhancing their current skills. That word just doesn’t have the right connotation for kids, right?
The better word to use here is “games” …this gives off the idea that something fun is going to be happening on the court once they arrive. It’s also important to keep it simple for them – their mind should be working throughout the process, but there’s no need to make things super complicated. After all, they’re not going to go from being a beginner to a Grand-Slam-winning pro within the next few hours.
Tennis is such a great sport that all kids should have exposure to, and it’ll be even better when they can have fun while also getting better on the court. Here are two games that will help your tennis-playing child improve their game without feeling like they’re doing a bunch of boring drills.
Serve and Step
One of the fundamental skills of tennis includes serving the ball – it’s impossible to have a volley without this! To start this game, stand about five feet away from the next and start by serving the ball over the net into the correct service box. As you continue hitting successful serves, take a step back to challenge yourself a little more. If one of your serves isn’t successful, then you can take one step forward.
Upon getting to behind the baseline, you can reset this game after getting three straight serves over the net and in the right service back. Once you reset, get up close to the net again, but now focus on the other service box. Keep “score” or track of your progress by counting how many steps you need before getting those three serves behind the baseline finished.
V-O-L-L-E-Y
Could you guess that this particular game is to help you with volleys? What makes this game unique, though, is that it hones your skill with regard to hitting a tennis ball to specific sections of a court.
The object of the game is to spell the word volley by hitting each section in the right order:
- V: left service box
- O: right service box
- L: left half of the singles court behind the service line
- L: right half of the singles court behind the service line
- E: left alley of the doubles court
- Y: right alley of the doubles court
To help make this drill easier (and more fun) to complete, get some help from a friend! Have them stand close to the next one side in order to feed you shots as you approach from the opposite side’s baseline for each try. And of course, you should always be taking turns so everyone gets a chance to have some fun. You can compete with one another by counting up how many shots it takes to spell volley correctly. The player who did it in the fewer number of shots wins.
