Time to time as tennis instructors, we all have to teach large groups of students. Sometimes, the number of tennis players in a group can be even more than what we anticipate. We all have to be prepared to handle the situation with proper tennis drills in our arsenal. Here are a few points that all tennis coaches need to pay attention to when dealing with larger tennis clinics.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that everybody in the group needs to be doing something. People lose attention very fast if they stand around doing nothing. Whether it is hitting balls, shadowing other players, or simply picking up balls, tennis drills have to provide constant movement. A common mistake inexperienced tennis instructors make is that they put all players on one side. No matter how fast they feed balls, some players will always be standing around waiting. Veteran tennis coaches know to use tennis drills where they place groups of players on both sides.
Another important point to pay attention to is not to stop the drills too often to correct individual players. Novice tennis instructors sometimes do this because they feel they have to correct every mistake. The tennis drill participants have to understand and accept that they will receive less instruction in big groups. A smart tennis coach can announce it ahead of time that he will correct individual mistakes at the end of the lesson. This way, players will not expect him to stop the lesson in the middle of the clinic.
To ensure that all participants know what they are doing in a particular tennis drill, the teacher has to give clear instructions before every exercise. He has to make sure that everyone is clear on the objectives and scoring of the tennis drill. This step guarantees that players will not stop in the middle of the tennis drill to ask questions.
During the tennis drills, tennis instructors have to constantly “commentate” loudly in between points. Doing this, they can be creative and add their personality to the tennis drills. This practice makes the tennis drills more interesting and fast-paced. For example, when players switch positions, the instructor can count down to speed up the process.
Tennis drills in large groups should always have an objective. This game playing approach ensures that players are focused and that practice is intense. The tennis instructor has to make sure that there are at least two players or more on each side playing against each other at any point. Participants can be divided into teams of two or two large teams with one on each side. The games can be organized where teams switch out when they lose and stay in when they win.
There are many ways a seasoned tennis coach can accommodate a large number of tennis players on one tennis court. The possibilities are only limited by our knowledge as tennis coaches. Tennis pros should always expand our knowledge base about new tennis drills to be able to deal with unexpected situations. The best tennis coaches are able to improvise under unforeseen circumstances.
Tennis Drills for Large Groups