New style of giving tennis lessons

As I was teaching a lesson the other day, I realized that the structure of tennis lessons has changed tremendously. It used to be that lessons consisted of drills with endless feeding of balls and students waiting on line and repeatedly hitting the ball with the instructor shouting out feedback. If the students were good, they were treated to ten minutes of king of the court at the end of the lesson. Now, the way lessons are taught has changed tremendously. A large portion of lessons is filled with students rallying back and fourth with one another with an instructor observing and offering input. The rally’s are directed – students are instructed to either hit back and fourth crosscourt or down the line or sometimes alternating between one and the other. I used to be opposed to this activity during a lesson. I figured that allowing kids to hit back and fourth would lead to pure chaos and very little learning. But I realize now that the opposite is true. By having the students hit back and fourth it allows them to be constantly active during the lesson and appreciate how the technical feedback that they receive can apply to their own tennis game. I also used to be skeptical that kids under aged 10 would be able to sustain a rally. I now realize that that is not true. Even students as young as age 6 can maintain a rally as long as the standards are constantly modified. For example, instead of asking the kids to rally from the baseline, perhaps having them rally service line to service line first is advisable. Or instead of asking them to hit 10 strokes in a row back and fourth, have them aim for 5 strokes. Good luck in implementing this technique in your lessons. If you want to learn more about how I teach, check out my website www.elftennis.com

Being the stronger player on a doubles team

Sometimes when watching competitive doubles you will see a sharp contrast in the levels of the two members of a dynamic doubles combo. Often people joke that the stronger player will carry the weaker player and thus the weaker player will attain a win that he or she isn't deserving of achieving. This sentiment couldn't be further from the reality of what goes on in matches like the above. In a lot of matches where one player is considerably stronger than the other one, that team ends up losing to the more well balanced combo. Here are some ways that the as the stronger player on a team you can ensure that you lead your team to victory and your partner shines. First- always hit to the weaker player even if it doesn't make a difference for you- maybe you can handle both the stronger and weaker player on the team but your partner might not be able to. The weaker player is less likely to be able to handle your shots and therefore will hit to your partner's strong side. In addition, work on setting up your partner. Figure out what they do best and make sure they are in a position to do that. Some people love to volley- - so hit hard forcing shots to give them a volley put away opportunity. Always try to cover for your partner Anticipate where they are going and make sure you get behind them or in front of them to cover for a miss.