Does your child have too much energy to spare during the day? If so, introduce your child to some fun tennis games.
Tennis is a wonderful ball sport to introduce to your kid. If they fall in love with the game and become excellent players, they can grab big opportunities. They may even break Roger Federer’s record of $106.3 million in earnings. There are 1000’s of amazing and certified tennis teaching professionals throughout and you can find a local coach here USPTA Find a Tennis Teaching Pro
Before that, here are a handful of key tennis drills for kids. Keep reading below to learn how you can teach a young novice player how to start hitting tennis balls.
Tennis Drills for Kids: Warm-Up Exercises
Before you do any of the tennis drills for kids, always do warm-ups first. Kids need to prepare their bodies for the activity requirements in tennis. This will increase the blood flow and oxygen supply that will help prevent injuries.
Running lines is a common and popular way for tennis players to warm up. If you have access to tennis courts, have your kid follow a U-shaped route. Follow the sideline going to the backline and then the sideline again.
For the whole time, have your kid remain facing the other side of the court so they jog backward, sidestep, and forward. This also gives them some practice on footwork. You can use more complex warm-up routines once your kid gets better at this.
Basics Grips and Shots
Next, explain the different grips in tennis. Show them how to hit the ball using these grips. Focus on teaching them backhand shots and forehand shots.
Tennis drills for beginners should teach the backhand and forehand first. These two shots are critical to your kid’s progress and are often used in games. Try throwing balls to your kids and let them get used to doing backhand and forehand shots.
If you’re practicing with your child in a public area, remember to follow COVID-19 safety tips for tennis players. Wash your hands, wipe your gear, and use new balls. Read about other pandemic safety precautions for tennis here.
Once your child learns the basic shots, start developing his or her accuracy. Place cones at the other side of the court for your kid to try to hit. This can be frustrating for him at first, so reassure him and give him treats to make him feel better.
Footwork Drills
Footwork drills are vital to developing your child’s muscle memory, court movement, and endurance. They can be very punishing, yet also very boring. To help your kid stay interested, play games to improve footwork.
The common drills for footwork include:
- Running exercises
- Footstep drills
- Two-step, three-step backward-forward drills
- Split step drills
Try to give these drills a new twist by adding a “fun” factor. Play mini tennis z-ball, do the spider run test, and more. In your backyard, continue to play tennis games for kids so they get better.
You can check out these other tips for new players for more information.
Get Your Kids Into Tennis
That ends our list of the top tennis drills for kids. We hope you learned a lot from this guide on how to teach your child tennis. If you want to see more content like this, check out our other guides on the blog.
You can also learn more by contacting the USTA Youth Tennis staff if you have queries or other concerns about teaching your kid tennis.
