How to Teach Tennis Skills to Children
Tennis is a great sport and a healthy activity to involve your little one into. Teaching tennis skills to children requires a little effort on your part and most specifically children belonging to the age group 3 to 5 since they have a very little span of attention.
Tennis skills can be best taught to children when you start thinking like a couch rather then a parent. But you will have to be a little patient at the same time and reward them on a slightest effort they put to learn this sport so that they can be kept motivated to play more and more.
Start your lessons by telling him/her what tennis is all about, and also develop familiarity about the equipment used in this sport. Arouse interest by letting your child know what honor the players bring to their families after winning the tournament?
Instructions
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1
Teaching the child how to grip the rackets:
It is very important to teach your child at the early stage of the lesson about how to hold or grip the rackets. Make him hold the racket from its base with his right hand and the ball in the left hand.
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2
Throwing and hitting the ball with a racket:
Now that he/she knows how to hold the racket, ask him to hold the ball with his left hand and position the racket neck on the left hand. Ask him to bring the racket downwards and then upwards towards the left side where the ball is positioned. This should be done with force so that the bowl is thrown towards the right direction.
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3
Practicing to move the racket rapidly:
The first and foremost thing to practice is to move the rackets accurately. Koosh balls or bean bags are soft balls and can help in improving racket movements. Take one of the koosh ball or bean bag in your hand and a racket in the other. Now make your kid stand at a a little distance from you. Now toss the ball towards his/her racket and ask him to throw it towards you. Make the child practice this with you as much as he/she can. After a few drills you will feel a lot of improvement in the racket movements.
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4
Balancing Ball on Racket:
Make your child balance the ball on the racket by asking him/her to bounce the ball off the racquet onto the ground and back to the racket by tilting the racket to let the ball stay on it. This way he/she will develop handling the ball on the racket.
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5
Jumping Practice:
Playing tennis requires another skill which is to jump with a quick response. So this skill also requires practice. Select the place on a courtyard where there are two lines drawn. Now make your child stand in between two lines and ask him/her to jump back and forth till the end of the line. This way he/she will develop the quickness to jump back and forth.
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6
Skills to track the bounced ball:
Another important skill is to track the ball that has been bounced in the air and hit it right. In order to practice this, throw the ball high in the air and ask your child to catch the ball. Repeat it a number of times until your child master this skill.
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7
Developing the skills to throw the ball across the string:
With the help of a ball and a string, make child throw the ball across the string towards you. This will develop the right positions while throwing or catching the ball. -
8
Mini Rally Practice:
Make your child stand with his face towards you. Now in between you and your child place a low obstacle that your child can reach easily. Take two racquets one in your hand and the other in your child’s hand. Now start throwing the ball with the racquet and make the child practice this with you for a couple of times.
After your child has developed enough mastery over throwing the ball across an obstacle, its time to go to a higher level so replace the obstacle into a low height net. Now practice over this and let the tennis skills grow in your child.
