Ball Drop

Ball Drop is a fun activity great for warm-ups and homework. It is great for sharpening focus on the ball and improving quickness and agility. I first saw it demonstrated at a Recreational Coaches Workshop. Appropriate for all ages. You will need two balls and at least two people.

Players face each other 3-5 feet apart. I usually have them face each other across the alley on court. One player has two balls, one in each hand. He/she holds the balls straight out to the side, forming a T shape. They drop one of the balls. The other player must retrieve the ball before it bounces twice.

Progressions

• Too easy? increase the distance between the players.
• Too hard? Toss the ball into the air rather than dropping it, thus giving the retrieving player more time to react and retrieve. Or, allow more than once bounce. 

Tap N Toss

Note: this player is a lefty so she is tossing with her right arm

Tap N Toss is one of two activities I beg my students to use as their regular Tennis Homework (the other is Bounce, Catch). Once my students progress to overhand serves, it is imperative they have a consistent and high quality toss. Tap N Toss is a simple and effective way to acquire one. It can be done indoors with relative ease, so we avoid the excuse of not having a place to practice at home. All they need is a ball or any other item they can toss and catch easily and safely with one hand.

Find a line on the floor, or just imagine one in a space where you can toss and catch safely. Line up at this line as if it were the baseline - face sideways to the 'net' with your non-dominant side closest to the net. Hold the ball in your non-dominant hand. To begin the toss, lightly tap the back of your hand (the hand holding the ball) against the top of your thigh. Extend this arm straight up from your thigh. Arm should be straight - no bends at wrist or elbow. At the top of the extension, lightly toss the ball and catch it with the same hand that tossed it. Watch the ball the entire time, from tap to toss to catch.

That's it. Repeat 10-20 times until you can do this with zero drops. Do not overdo it. Stop if your arm/shoulder feels strain the first few times you try this. The strain should not indicate injury if you are doing this properly; it is just not yet used to doing this motion with this many reps.

Some tips:

• If you are doing this correctly, you should not have to move your feet at all to chase after the ball. 
• The ball should not be tossed a mile into the air. You want it to go about as high as you can reach with your racquet extended out in front of you at about 1 o'clock for righties, 11 o'clock for lefties. 
• Take care not to toss the ball until your arm is at the top of its reach. 
• Lift the ball into the air in a very mechanical, robotic motion. The less movement of elbows and wrists, the better. 
• The less your ball spins as you toss it, the better. Spin introduces more chance of the toss going astray. If your ball is spinning madly, your wrist or fingers are too involved in the tossing motion. 
• Tapping the thigh to start things off keeps your toss arm in alignment, preventing it from wandering around out to the side of the body, often resulting in an over-the-head toss.

Red Light, Green Light

Red Light, Green Light is great for teaching your youngest players to pay attention to your direction as well as other cues on court.

Players line up on the baseline. When you say Green Light, they move forward toward net. When you say Red Light, they must stop. First one to net wins.

Variations

• Rather than saying Red Light or Green Light, hold up a red or green ball or other item
• To make it a little more challenging, ask them to perform another task as they are moving.
• Have the players balance a ball on their racquet as they are moving forward. Dropped ball = back to the starting line.
• Carry a tennis ball between the knees.
• Carry a tennis ball with a partner, ball wedged between outside of knees, hips, or shoulders

Tag You're It!

Tag, you're it!

Tag is the Gumby of children's playground games. Its flexibility is second to none. You can change it up lots of different ways to make it fit whatever activity you need, tennis or non. Plus, what kid doesn't love a game where there is plenty of running? Here's a couple of easy ways to use Tag to warm up your tennis class.

One player is designated It. This player is charged with tagging as many other players as possible within a given time limit and within set boundaries. Players may not leave boundaries to escape tag. Tennis courts are perfect for this thanks to all the lines.

Variations

• Tagged players must freeze
• Tagged players are now also It and help tag others
• Free players may un-freeze tagged players
• Restrict movement gradually as the rounds of Tag progress: first round is entire half of court. Second round is area between baseline and service line. Third round is service box. Last round is alley. 
• Or, start small and end big
• Restrict movement to specific footwork such as sidesteps
• Have It tag the others by carrying a tennis ball and gently touching them with it
• Have all players balance a ball on their racquet while playing
• Have all players dribbling a ball with racquet while playing

Empty Nest

I came up with this activity out of desperation. On occasion I have a small number of young beginners on court, 2-4 players. We are still working on the basics, meaning just getting the ball over the net and in play. It is tempting to feed balls the entire lesson just to give them the repetitions they need. But I desperately want to avoid that because it is BORING. So I tweaked my Five Points drill a little and here's what I came up with. Works great with uneven numbers.

This hopper is full now,
but when it is empty,
GAME OVER

Players face each other across the net at the baseline. Max 4 players per court. If you have more than four, station extras at net posts or have them compete as teams in a relay format. Ball hopper is located behind one of the baselines safely out of play. Player nearest ball hopper has five chances to bounce feed ball to begin point. One point awarded for every ball that goes over the net and into play (basically rally ball). After first player has used their five tries, all rotate one position and the next player has their turn with five balls. Player with most points when hopper is empty wins.

To clarify point system: any player hitting a ball over net and into playable area gets one point every time they do it, not just the server. Server hits ball into play = 1 point for server. Returner hits it back = 1 point for returner. Server hits this ball back = another point for server, and so on.

Recently during a serve lesson I had the server alone on one side and two players returning on the other side. I allowed any ball hit over the net and in court since a) the players are not quite able to direct their serves cross court (next lesson!), and b) having two returners gave the returners a better chance at returning the ball. But if this causes too much confusion, have the odd player waiting at net post instead.

Variations

• Increase the difficulty by restricting where balls may land (cross court, behind service line) or which stroke should be used (forehand, backhand, etc.).
• Speed it up by allowing only one ball per player instead of five. This is great for fitness also - rotation after every point.
• As players advance they can underhand or overhand serve instead of bounce feed.

Figure 8

Tennis students don't get too far into the basics without getting introduced to the Figure 8 footwork drill. You probably know the one - two spots are on the ground about 3 feet apart. You move around them in a figure 8 pattern with small but quick adjusting steps to improve your footwork. If you're ready to take this activity to the next level, try it with a medicine ball.

Student performs the footwork as described above. When they get to the forehand or backhand side of the 8, coach tosses them a medicine ball to the FH or BH side. They catch it with both hands, and toss it back from the side with both hands on the ball. This sideways, two-handed throwing simulates the FH and BH swing pattern. Confused? Check out a video of the exercise here. Thanks crazytennismom.com for the tip. You can find her blog there, or follow her on FB, or on Twitter @sandratennismom.

Human Net

Human Net is a fun but challenging activity so best used with advanced beginners or higher. Minimum four players needed.

Pair players up and form groups of two teams each, four total players. One team forms a net by extending their racquets toward each other so that the heads of the frames are touching. The other two players rally with each other over this 'net'. When an error is made, teams switch roles. The goal is to score the most rallies.

Safety tip: net players must stay alert as balls will be flying nearby. Rallying players are looking for control, not hitting winners.

Variation:
Players keep rally scores individually rather than as a team.

Progression:
Too hard? Have your players toss underhanded rather than hit with racquets.
Too easy? Restrict them to hitting only forehands or only backhands. Even harder: all volleys!