Touch Tag

This activity is from John Carrizosa. Great for building good technique in young beginners. John has

Envisioning catching or touching the ball rather than
hitting it is a method endorsed by teaching
professional Oscar Wegner

created a progression beginning with asking his students to first just touch a ball that has been tossed to them (after it bounces). Touch should be with dominant hand only. Next step is using the racquet to touch (not hit!) the ball. Final step is hitting the ball with a good quality swing and follow through. The idea is to get away from the wild, home run-type swings, substituting a swing with more 'touch' or 'feel'. I agree and would add the following steps to John's activity:

From a stationary position (coach tosses ball so that player does not have to move much to get to it):

• touch tossed ball with dominant hand 
• touch ball with racquet
• swing/hit and follow through with racquet

From a dynamic position (meaning coach tosses ball so that player must move to get to it):

• touch tossed ball with dominant hand
• touch ball with racquet
• swing/hit and follow through with racquet