Sorry, Charlie!

Sorry, Charlie! is a result of instant inspiration on court recently when something wasn't working and I

Your young students will have no idea who
this is. I always felt badly for Charlie and
all those years of rejection. Very fishy!

had to think fast and switch gears. I like the result and I hope you do, too!

I was using this for young red ball players at the beginner level. Two players face off across the net from each other. On one side, player or coach has created a large target. I put my target smack-dab in the middle of the 36-foot court, more or less a circle about 4 feet in diameter. Remember these were beginners and I wanted to make this doable for them. Make the target out of flat spots or stripes as one player will be playing on this side.

Player on side WITHOUT target hits self-fed or coach fed ball across net, trying to make it bounce somewhere inside the target. If successful, other player returns ball and continues rally.

If the ball does NOT land in the target, player on side of net with target does not have to hit the ball and replies, "Sorry, Charlie!" to let the other player know their ball did not hit the target.

So we have one player working on feeding/targeting skills, and the other working on tracking, calling lines, and returning skills.

One point for every fed ball that lands in the target. Halfway through an average size hopper, switch roles and give the returning player a chance to self-feed.  Player with most points when hopper is empty is the winner.

If you have a large group and half a hopper is too long of a rotation, give each player a fixed number of chances such as 10 balls per player.

To make it more difficult, have the first ball fed to backhand, or shrink/move target.