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Serve Up The Fun – Coaching Kids Tennis: Activities and Tips
Step up your coaching skills with this complete guide on how to coach tennis to children and young people. Discover tips, useful activities and game ideas, suitable for all ages and abilities.
Included in this article:
by Scheenagh Harrington
Every year, the Wimbledon Championships inspires a new generation of children to pick up a tennis racquet and follow in the footsteps of Emma Raducanu or Andy Murray.
Most UK tennis clubs are a long way from the glamour of Centre Court, but the focus on child-first coaching is revolutionising how the game is taught.
We’ll look at how coaches are adopting this approach and provide a few tennis coaching tips for kids that will help make the sport fun and engaging for children of all ages.
Teaching kids tennis: tips and need-to-knows
For former British number one Lorna Woodroffe, head coach at WimX Academy in Essex, when it comes to tennis coaching tips for children, fun is fundamental.
“As a coach I believe it’s important to make sure they’re always getting some sort of success out of their sessions while they’re learning,” she says. “This encourages them to have a good experience and come back.”
The biggest tip for how to teach kids tennis, according to fellow WimX coach Aleks Mitrovska, is not being afraid to let the children control the sessions. “Include them in the process, because they do surprise you, especially the little ones,” she says.
Use the right tennis activities and games for the right age groups
When it comes to how to teach kids tennis, child-first coaching stresses the rights of children to be heard and develop their own journey, as well as the importance of choice.
All three are at the heart of the Lawn Tennis Association’s LTA Youth programme. It has five stages, each designed to support and help kids aged from four to 18 years old.
“LTA Youth is designed to be child-first at its core,” explains Merlin Van de Braam, head of coach development and support. His tennis coaching tips for kids include using tailored activities such as stimulating equipment and learning aids, slower bouncing balls for younger kids, and smaller courts.
Aleks loves using process points to help kids of all ages develop. “With the little ones they get one goal that we decide together: I give them a few options and they choose,” she says.
“Let’s say after every rally, if they think they’ve done at least one, they reward themselves with a process point. Sometimes we play games where the only way you can win the point is if they do the process right before the other person.”
It’s about keeping it fun, doing games where they’re learning within an activity without them realising they’re gaining more skills,” Lorna adds. “They just think they’re having a great time but I know it’s working on their balance, movement and coordination.”
Lorna Woodroffe WimX Academy
Tips for teaching tennis to beginners
The LTA Youth programme’s initial blue stage caters for children aged four to six, offering a basic introduction to the sport, while also teaching them about balance and agility.
For coaches planning their sessions and wondering what they should teach first in tennis, Lorna says: “We work on their sending and receiving skills, but we also focus on their socialisation with each other. “We make sure they have a fun experience but they’re also learning to communicate.”
Among Aleks’ tennis coaching tips for children is to ensure they enjoy the social side of the game and the shared experiences it brings. “They love it. They win together, they lose together – they become friends.”
Teaching more advanced tennis to kids
As the children grow, they move through the programme’s stages. By the ages of six to eight, coaches are teaching tennis techniques including overarm serves, rallies and volleys.
From the age of eight onward, tactics and problem-solving are introduced, alongside concepts such as sportsmanship and leadership, while in the later stages, the children begin to choose their own styles of play on court.
The deeply supportive, child-first coaching philosophy extends to older kids whose skills may be more advanced, as Lorna explains: “The way I work it’s a lot about questioning.
Sometimes as coaches you want to jump in and give them the answer, but children learn so much more when they’re the ones trying to figure things out.”
Lorna Woodroffe WimX Academy
5 Tips for Child-First Coaching
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Be creative!
One of the most important things to remember when deciding how to teach kids tennis is ensuring each coaching session is as creative as possible and each child gets all the benefits of tennis.
One of Lorna’s tennis coaching tips for kids is to give them a chance to change the activities on offer. “Children have got such great imaginations,” she says.
A good example is to simply create a pyramid of balls in different parts of the court, then have the kids fire balls at them to knock it down. As well as helping improve their aim, they’re also given the freedom to be a bit destructive!
“You paint a picture of the game and they’ll tweak it and it will come alive,” Lorna says. “Because they’ve had a part in it, they’re more involved and invested. They are empowered.”
Develop a tennis coaching philosophy
For coaches looking at how to teach kids tennis, Merlin’s advice is: “teach kids tennis, not tennis to kids. The child is at the heart of it, and we put that first, not the sport.
He says the key to good coaching is recognising different needs and appropriate challenges. “We try to support coaches by providing ‘easier, harder, different’ options for most of our LTA Youth exercises.”
Merlin’s tennis coaching tips for children also include using the STEP Model: adapting the space, task, equipment to the learner at all times.
For Aleks, child-first coaching should be one of the main things a coaching programme should focus on. “If kids are having fun, they will learn and love to come back to your session.
“Then one day they’re rallying – it’s a more organic process. It keeps them happy and they’re more likely to stay in the sport.”
How to coach tennis to kids: the FAQs
There are many things to bear in mind when teaching kids tennis, from making it fun and inclusive, to allowing the child to decide their own journey.
There’s no set age for children to start learning tennis. It’s an engaging and energetic sport, and a great way to make new friends, but the key thing is the child chooses their own pathway. Encourage them to participate, make it an inclusive environment and listen to what they have to say about their own development.
Anyone looking to teach tennis to children can qualify using the LTA’s coaching pathway. The qualifications focus now heavily on communication, including questioning and listening skills, more than ever before, says Merlin.
“We encourage – where appropriate – a guided discovery style methodology that gives space for kids to explore the game and be heard by the coach.”
There are lots of different courses that teach tennis to kids, ranging from fun to formal. Click the links to discover more about tennis coaching courses and tennis coaching workshops and the LTA Youth Programme.
Let the children decide what they should learn first! Spark their imaginations with fun games such as the hungry crocodile and pyramid, tailored to their age and level, let them take the lead in coaching sessions, and encourage and embrace their contributions.
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About the contributors
Aleks Mitrovska is a coach and UEL team manager at WimX.
Lorna Woodroffe is a former British number 1 tennis player. She is now the head coach and programme manager at WimX Academy in Essex.
Merlin Van De Braam is the head of coach development & support at the Lawn Tennis Association.
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