Fun Tennis Drills For Various Ages

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Fun Tennis Drills: The Pleasure Principle

Why will a two or three-year-old turn the crank on a jack-in-the-box over and over again and keep smiling each time? Just to see it pop up over and over again? Is the motivation pure fun or mastering a skill? Experts say it's a combination of both, namely the pleasure of mastering a skill.

Starting at very young ages, children want to enjoy the newly learned ways their bodies work. Picture the thrill on your child's face that accompanied his or her first steps. Remember this "pleasure principle" when helping your child develop skills that will lay the groundwork for tennis, and your chances of success increase tremendously.

Along this same line of thought, remember that children in this age group love singing and dancing. Make up songs and rhymes to help them along. For example, to the tune of London Bridge, try singing

Hit your forehand low to high, low to high, low to high…Hit your forehand low to high…You're a tennis player!

Fun Tennis Drills: How much to teach?

Over-teaching is a great stumbling block for most parents trying to help very young children master or even start to develop any skill. Here's the typical scenario: The parent instructs the young child and gets frustrated because she does not seem capable of following instructions. Since the goal is to help the child, avoiding parental frustration is a must. Here are some tips:

1. For two-year-olds definitely keep instructions to "start" and "stop" at first. I.e. Start running, stop running. Start hopping, stop hopping. Start swinging, stop swinging. Instructions on how to run, jump, or swing will be too complex for most toddlers. But, by the time a child reaches three years old, he is usually ready to handle one simple instruction, like swing from low to high or where to start and finish the racquet.

2. Don't assume anything. This is a great guideline to remember if you want to avoid getting frustrated. I have seen too many parents tell a very young child that she has to hit the ball further in front. The problem is that many two or three-year-olds don't have a clue what "in front" really means.

3. If you need to guide your child to contact the ball, in case it doesn't happen naturally (which will generally be the case), use instructions they are familiar with. For example, if they watch the PBS show, "Clifford, The Big Red Dog," have him pretend to be Clifford running and playing with a ball. Another example to try if you want him to run with a quicker touch on the ground is to ask him to "run like a cat".

4. If she cannot easily track a normal ball, which will most often be the case, use age-adaptive equipment, such as large foam balls, beach balls, or even juggling scarves (they float through the air very slowly).

5. Use a 70-30 success to failure ratio as a guideline. This means that whatever the activity or skill you are working on, arrange the exercise so your child is succeeding more often than failing.

6. Call any sessions where you work on skills "play" instead of calling it a "lesson" or "drill" or "exercise."7. Keep all "play" sessions where there is focus on skill development to less than 20 minutes in length. And, remember, it can't be play if it's not fun.

Fun Tennis Drills: Is it a boy or a girl?

Yes, it matters. Boys and girls are wired differently, and understanding certain differences between them can be extremely helpful. Here are some gender-specific tips when teaching children in this toddler group:

1. Boys will be less vocal than girls, and have more muscle mass evident even by age three. They will also hear better in their right ears, will be less distracted by other voices, and have better auditory memory than girls at that age. Also consider that boys will be less able to multitask than girls.

2. Girls will have a stronger vocabulary than boys, have a better ability to multitask, will hear well in both ears, and have a better visual memory. However, they will be more easily distracted by voices around them.

3. From personal experience, I can add that in this age group most girls will gravitate towards playing with dolls, whereas most boys move towards balls. Beware, however, that if you wait too long to get your little girl throwing a ball, it becomes harder and harder. Basic neurological pathways for running, jumping, hitting, throwing, and catching develop at very young ages. Learning to naturally throw a ball, for example, at a young age such as this two to three-year-old bracket is advised over waiting until the child is eight, nine, or ten.

Fun Tennis Drills: Right-left balance skills

Another important issue to consider is the fact that by the time children reach five years of age, they have already established their hand, foot, and eye dominance. Therefore, while they are still in the two to three-year-old bracket, it can be very helpful to get the children to, as far as possible, develop balanced skills. This means that you should have them toss, catch, and even hit with both their right and left hands. In the long run, they will become better athletes because of it. Well-versed parents or tennis teachers can help guide their toddlers and young preschoolers to be more well rounded and therefore prepared to try more physical activities than they otherwise may have attempted.

Fun Tennis Drills: Overview

Working with a child of any age is both fun and challenging at the same time. In this installment of our series on age-specific tennis issues for teaching children, we will focus on pre-school and kindergartners.

Ask any parent to describe their children at four and five years old, and you can be certain that increased socialization will be included in their description. Children at that age start worrying about what their friends think and feel about them. This socialization is a big part of a child's development, and it greatly affects how parents and other adults work with children this age on a tennis court. At ages four and five, when groups of children are left alone to play, the largely random play of younger children advances to the beginnings of group games and sports.

Fun Tennis Drills: Gender-specifics

In this age bracket, there are specific contrasts between boys and girls. As compared to girls, here is what the average boy will be like. He will:

- occupy larger space on playground

- exhibit more individual running

- play more rough and vigorously

- express emotions in actions

- ignore newcomers until they prove their value

- be more interested in objects and things

Girls, on the other hand, will:

- act more cooperatively, and be quieter and less physically active

- will work in groups better than boys

- express emotions more in words

- greet newcomers more warmly

- be more interested in people and relationships

Fun Tennis Drills: Consequences versus gratification

At this age, the children still largely disconnect from consequences that are not connected immediately to gratification. In other words, they still want immediate pleasure when possible. Yet, unlike the two and three-year-olds of our previous installment, their behavior is also motivated by more awareness of their place among their friends or other children around them. But note, that they are just in the beginning stages of their social development. Some children will be more concerned with it than others, and girls, in particular, will be more socially aware than boys.

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Parents starting their children with tennis in this age bracket have to decide whether to sign them up for private or group lessons. Generally speaking, children of this age will be more motivated by groups of children their own age, in part because it is inevitably more fun, complete with laughter, making friends, and team games that create group enthusiasm difficult to replicate in a private lesson.

If you are thinking group lessons, however, due to the vast behavioral differences between boys and girls, I would strongly recommend dividing boys and girls of this age into separate groups as far as possible. If this isn't possible, at the very least have even numbers of girls and boys so they can be subdivided within each group. The opposite would be a group lesson with six children, five boys and one girl. What are the chances of the lone girl wanting to come back for more?

Fun Tennis Drills: Create winners

At this age encourage cooperation, manners, attitude, and effort. And, although it is always tempting to have contests and competition with winners and losers, avoid it. Since the children in this age group are becoming more and more aware of how they stack up in comparison to their peers, you want to make sure that the fragile egos of these children remain intact. If they show up for a session at three o'clock and leave at four, absolutely make sure they feel good about themselves and how they did. This means that each child must walk away feeling like a winner. The responsibility for this falls in the hands of the adult supervisor. Creating activities where each and every child comes out a winner or, at the very least, ends up moderately successful is the challenge of teaching. Often the simple key to keep in mind is to not try to accomplish too much. Keep it simple.

For example, watch a soccer game with children at ages four and five, and it becomes immediately clear that very few understand position, passing strategy, or skills beyond running and occasionally kicking a ball. If you do create simple competitions, I recommend giving prizes to all participants, regardless if they win or lose.

Fun Tennis Drills: Boys games

Experts generally say that children in this age group need instructions limited to one or two points for games or drills. And, although many exercises will work well for both boys and girls, there are differences to keep in mind to help everyone have more fun. For example, as compared to girls, boys will enjoy less structure, less control, more power, and overall an environment that will appear somewhat chaotic.

Fun Tennis Drills: Girls games

Girls, on the other hand, will handle structure better than boys. And, due to their stronger verbal ability and social skills, adding elements of the children cheering one another on, and even calling out simple tips to one another will work. An example would be for the children to call out "happy feet" to keep each other's feet moving. Also remember that girls can also tend to lock onto one other child in the group and exclude others. Therefore, it is important to constantly rotate partners to avoid any individual from feeling left out.

Fun Tennis Drills: Class length

The final tip for this article is to discuss the length of the class, whether it be a private or a group. The overall guideline is fun, anything you can do to get them asking for more, to be eager for the next class. But, as a general rule, group classes at this age should last no longer than 40 minutes. For private lessons, 30 minutes should be plenty. Finally, if they are having a blast and, at the end of a class, are nagging you for more, don't give in. Better to keep the carrot dangling so they are eager to come back for the next session.

Fun Tennis Drills: Introduction

Some people call this age group "tweenies" while others call them "pre-teens" and others "pre-adolescents." Whatever you call them, this is arguably one of the most critical age groups to get involved in tennis and get them to stick with it. Options for teens are many and if they are jumpstarted with tennis, their teens years will be grounded in a terrific sport, setting them up for a lifetime of fun and satisfaction.

One of the main challenges will be success. We all know that teen years are full of the struggle of identity, each teenager finding their own path, their own rhythm that makes them an individual. The preteens are just beginning this process. Be sensitive to it, and remember that self-esteem plays a large role in determining whether they will continue with tennis past this pre-adolescent phase. Make sure they experience plenty of success and receive truckloads of encouragement. Most experts say that a 60-70% success to failure ratio is appropriate, and certainly over 50%. If they are beginning to play competitive tennis, arrange matches with this goal in mind. If they are learning and drilling, make sure the drills and exercises are organized with these same percentages in mind.

Fun Tennis Drills: Self-determination

Children in this age group are able to make many good decisions for themselves, and they will seek these opportunities. By this age children understand that fun and effort must go hand-in-hand to achieve results such as improved tennis skills. It is up to the teacher, coach, or parent to make sure it is fun. But the ingredients of good effort and attitude can only come from the child. Share with the children the benefits of tennis, compare tennis to other sports and activities so they are part of the decision to play, instead of making the decision for them. Then, allow them to be part of the decision as to how they will learn.

You see, there is a current dilemma in the United States that causes some underlying friction between college coaches, high school coaches, and teaching professionals. The college coaches complain about the high school coaches not sorting out the grips and technique of players BEFORE they get to college. The high school coaches blame the teaching pros for not sorting the grips out BEFORE they get to high school. As a teaching professional myself, the buck obviously stops with the teaching pros. There's no one else to take responsibility. We all know the right standards to set. The challenge has been keeping the students having fun and feeling encouraged. Many teaching pros will argue that they cannot stress proper mechanics too much without losing the students' interest.

It's the same challenge that every teacher faces in every environment, whether it is in school or on a tennis court. Just keep in mind that once bad habits are allowed to take root, it becomes more and more difficult to change them as children grow older. This age group is the place to start. One of the keys is getting the children involved in he process. Let them determine how they will learn and improved effort and attitude should follow quickly behind.

Fun Tennis Drills: Shoot for lifetime participation

Whether you are a parent or a teacher, set a goal of lifetime participation when you get your children involved in tennis. The jury is in deliberation no longer. Tennis is the best lifetime sport in the world. Period. The challenge in getting children to commit to tennis is not as simple. Children at this age become increasingly affected by peer pressure and continue to look for immediate enjoyment, usually in that order, which is very telling about the tremendous impact of peer pressure. Therefore, getting the right teacher and the right environment of peers is critical.

Fun Tennis Drills: Parents must choose the right program

Parents should look carefully and ask hard questions before signing their children up for a a program. Find out what percentage of the children in the program stick with it from year to year. It's also important to observe a class before signing up your child for two reasons. First, to see how much fun the children are having and to ascertain whether or not you feel your child will fit in both physically and emotionally with that particular group of kids. Second, speak with other parents. Experience is the best teacher. Ask questions of other parents and you will learn a lot about the program from just a few minutes of listening.

Fun Tennis Drills: Groom your own slope

Each child is unique and this presents a seemingly paradoxical situation. First, we just reviewed and probably agreed upon the need for children to learn in a group environment. However, it is also equally true that each child is unique. How can a "unique" child be taught tennis effectively? Most will agree that a combination of private and group instruction is the best plan of action.

Fun Tennis Drills: Group versus private lessons

Although group lessons present the best opportunity for fun and friends, it is a rare teacher who can adequately work on developing solid technique in the context of the game-based learning that usually is the benchmark of group instruction. On the other hand, most teaching professionals are quite good at teaching technique and mechanics in a private lesson. Our recommendation? If you are a parent and can find a talented teacher who can help mold a child's technique while keeping the group lessons fun and engaging, you are fortunate. On the other hand, if you are concerned about your child forming the right habits that will serve him or her well for an entire lifetime of tennis, consider complementing the group lessons with some private instruction. If you can afford it, it is usually well worth the extra investment.

Fun Tennis Drills: The value of mentors

The value of mentors in a broad range of activities is so well known, it always surprises me that more teaching pros and coaches don't take advantage of this concept. The idea is to create an environment where your older children act as role models to inspire the younger or less advanced players. Whether they are just playing on adjacent courts or acting as assistant coaches for a portion of the more beginning classes is only a question of impact. The rule of thumb with mentoring is fairly simple: Most younger children act more focused and play with more concentration and intensity when older peers are watching. You'll also find that the older children will, in turn, act more mature. Use the idea of mentoring to your advantage.

Fun Tennis Drills: Length of lessons

Generally speaking, for eight and nine-year-olds, session lengths can easily last 60 or even 90 minutes. Keep it fun and they will want to keep playing.

Fun Tennis Drills: Study of 10,000 children

Let's finish this article with a review of the top reasons kids want to play sports and why they stop as reported by the Tennis Industry Association. First, the main reasons for playing are:

1. Fun

2. Learn and improve skills

3. Exercise and stay in shape

4. Do something they are good at

5. Play as part of a team

6. The challenge of competition

7. To win

And, finally, here are the top reasons why kids stop playing sports.

1. Lose interest or get bored

2. Don't have fun

3. Sport takes too much time

4. Coach is a poor teacher

5. Too much pressure

6. Coach plays favorites

7. Overemphasis on winning