3 Tennis Drills for Kids Who Love to Move
April 12th, 2016
by Do It Tennis
filed in Youth Sports, Tennis How To
Any tennis drill for your 10 and under tennis player should be designed for their development level and infused a sense of fun. Here are three tennis drills for kids courtesy of Micah Groom, Co-director of Player Development for the North County Tennis Academy in San Diego County in California and a USPTR certified professional.
Level Up Tennis Drill
The goal for this tennis drill for kids is to improve their rallying skills with a partner.
Kids are split up into pairs. They need to successfully rally with their partner for seven or more hits in a row to move up each level. Each level uses different types of training or
kids tennis balls. Using different types of balls help tennis players at different points of development achieve some success. The kids tennis balls used in order are:
• Foam tennis ball
• Red tennis ball
• Orange tennis ball
• Green Dot tennis ball
• Regular tennis ball
For groups, the winners of this tennis game for kids are the first pair to complete all levels.
Cone Split Step Tennis Drill
The goal for this tennis drill is for kids to learn how to split step in preparation to hit the tennis ball.
Have the kids line up near the baseline line (or set two lines for bigger groups). Set a
low height tennis court cone halfway between service line and the tennis net for each line. Have kids move forward and hop over the cone into a spilt step before feeding them a ball to return.
Grow Up Your Serve Tennis Drill
The goal for this tennis drill is for kids to progress with their serving skills using power.
Kids start serving close to the tennis net. They can move to the next level back toward the baseline once they hit five good serves in a row. Each service ball cannot bounce more than twice before hitting the back fence. You can also adjust to one or three bounces depending on skill level. Use
colorful tennis court markers so the kids know quickly where to move to next. Service spots are as follows:
• Level 1 – Baby-Land (From halfway between the net and service line)
• Level 2 – Kids-Ville (From the service line)
• Level 3 – Teen-Town (From halfway between the service line and baseline)
• Level 4 – College-Campus (From behind the baseline)
If playing with multiple kids then the first person/team to finish all levels wins.
Want More?
Get more fun tennis drills for kids and tips for the younger set at 10 and Under Tennis. Your tennis whiz kids can get personal attention and professional on-court tennis instruction in the San Diego, CA area with Micah Groom at micgroom@gmail.com.
What’s your view?
Which tennis drills have your kids liked to do? What tennis games for kids did you do growing up on the tennis court?
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