ORANGE 1 - WEEK 2
MEET & GREET
(2-3 minutes)
Talk to the kids and ask them questions about life outside of the tennis lesson:
- who is your favorite tennis player?
- what is your favorite sport?
- how is school?
- did you play tennis at home?
- do you have any pets?
- what is your favorite food?
etc.
Keep the conversation age appropriate
WARM-UP
(7-8 minutes)
LINE RACES
Teach players the names of the lines and court parts by showing and telling.
Ask players to run and place a foot on them.
Once they know a number of court parts, keep them moving continuously for 2-3 minutes to WARM-UP.
PLAY - PRACTICE - PLAY
(40 minutes)
THROW TENNIS
(10 minutes)
- players use underhand and overhead tosses
- try to win the point with strategy
- important: make connection to actual tennis
Fundamental Teaching Points
- introduce rules and scoring (15,30,40)
- teach fair play and fair line calls
SELF RALLY
(10 minutes)
- players perform forehand self rally up and down the court
- bounce the ball up gently at forehead level
- make it easier by bouncing it in place
Fundamental Teaching Points
- teach continental grip
- teach sideways set up position
- teach contact point
FEED, HIT, CATCH
(10 minutes)
- players in 3 positions: feeder, hitter, catcher
- feeder tosses the ball to hitter
- hitter sends the ball over the net to catcher
Fundamental Teaching Points
- teach correct grip
- teach sideways set up position
- teach contact point
UNDERHAND SERVE & RETURN
(10 minutes)
- players serve and return to each other
- players take turns to serve
Fundamental Teaching Points
- teach sideways set up position
- teach contact point
- teach recovery
WRAP-UP
(5-10 minutes)
COURT TAKE-DOWN
- players and coach clean up together
- teach the importance of keeping everything organized
SUMMARIZE & ENCOURAGE
Ask the players questions about the lesson:
- what did we work on today?
- what did you learn today?
- what is your favorite shot?
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- tell each player individually what was ONE THING they did great today and hand out Firefly Dollars
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- optional: coach target challenge for extra Firefly Dollar