🎾 Tennis for Kids 🎾 Week 1

Welcome everyone. So what we're going to do for our very first exercise in week one of our Tennis for Kids course is called the snake run. This is a great little exercise to get us warmed up. So we're going to run in a line, all behind me, one long thin line like a snake, and we're going to run all around this area, lots of different directions, and you're just going to follow me. Where's the snake going? Nobody knows. Okay, now we're going to make the snake run a little tougher. So we're going to do the same thing, running around, but I'm going to put in some movements, and you've got to try and follow me. They're going to be Tennessee types of movements. Big circles with the arms. There we go. Lovely. Let's do some power hops. Nice and high up into the air. Some power hops. We're going to make it a little bit easier now. That was quite tough. Bouncing on our toes. Now we're going to go with the arms. Big rotations. Lovely. And then go the other way. Lovely. Hop on right foot. Very good. Left foot. Nice. And can we do some power skips up in the air? Lovely. Okay, last one. We're going to do the snake again. If I shout out your name, you're going to run to the front, and you're going to lead the snake. Toby! Lovely. Toby's in control. He's a big, fast snake. Let's have Ems. Go, Ems! Go, go, go! Emy's to the front. Where's Emy going to go with this snake? Where's she taking us? Oh, a bit of a shuffle there. Well done, guys. Warmed up? Good job. The next little exercise we're going to do is called Andy Murray Reaction Times. Who knows Andy Murray? He's the best tennis player in the world. What we're going to do is I'm going to test Emy's reaction. So we're going to work as a pair, and I want Emy to bounce on your feet like that, nice and good. I'm going to put my hands behind the back, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to show Emy a hand. You've just got to high-five it as quick as you can. Very good. That's it, stretch up. Nice. Then what we're going to do to make it a bit tougher is we're going to maybe make our partner stretch a bit. So she's going to stretch up high. Lovely. We'll get down low. I'll stretch out wide. That's it. And the third level, we're going to put in a ball. So if I go with an empty hand and she high-fives, that's a mistake. Oh, no! I got her with the empty hand. The next little exercise we're going to do is called Drop It. So you're going to stand with your knees slightly bent, back straight, head up high, and you're going to hold your ball at shoulder height out in front of you, and all I'm going to do is I'm going to drop the ball from shoulder height, let it bounce, get my hands under the ball, and catch it. That's it, Mario. Good. Okay, now what we're going to do is we're going to make that a little bit tougher. Hold the ball out, but hold it in just your right hand, and you're going to let it drop, and you're going to catch it with the opposite hand. Take it back up, let it drop, catch it with the opposite hand. Okay, now I want you all to take a cone, because what we're going to do now is we're going to make it a little bit easier. So now you're going to imagine that this cone is your big hand. It's like a catching mitt. So what you're going to do this time is you're going to drop the ball, and we're going to take a couple of steps, or one step, and catch it, but make sure we're nice and still as we catch the ball. The next little exercise we're going to do is called bounce catch rally. Standing facing each other in that nice warrior position, and all I'm going to do is I'm going to pop the ball up. Mario's going to let it bounce, and then he's going to catch it. So this time we're going to introduce two balls. This one's a bit tougher. And then the last thing we're going to do is the two balls with a bit of movement. Right, now we've got our rackets. The first little exercise we're going to do is called floor tennis. I'm going to put the ball onto the floor, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to gently roll the ball. It's poppy. Splat it with the strings facing down, and then roll it back. The ball's got to stay on the floor. What you're going to do now is you're going to make a little goal in between you. You've got to now try and roll the ball through that goal before you splat it. Pass it back. If you're finding it really easy, you can make the goal a bit smaller. If it's tough, you can make the goal a bit bigger. Right, now we're going to make it a little bit easier. One of you rolling, one of you splatting and tapping back. This one now is a bit tougher. Splat it, run round the ball, and roll it back. Splat, round the ball, and roll it back. Right, now we're going to do some fantastic forehands. Bounce, tap it up, and catch it. Bounce, tap it up, bounce, catch it. Lovely. Okay, good. What we're going to do now is we're going to So I'd like you standing either side of the net with your partner. Same thing, but this time you're going to try and hit the ball over the net. Fantastic forehands over the net. Okay, so what I want you to do is rather than hitting the ball like this in front of your body, try and get to the side, the ball to the side of the body there. So when you drop the ball to hit it, you can start with this ball here, drop it, and hit it there, yeah? That's really good. Much, much better. Well done. We're going to make it a little bit easier now. What we're going to do is we're going to start with the balls on the strings, and you're going to start by just slingshotting the ball up and over. Catch it between your racket ball, still catching it after the bounce, but we're now slingshotting the ball over the net. So now what we're going to do is we're going to do a bit of So what's going to happen is you're going to hit the ball, and then you're going to catch it, and then after you hit it back, you're going to recover to your cone. We're going to finish off with a game called bullseye. So the trolley here is the bullseye, and you've got to try and hit that forehand into the trolley. So what I need you to do is come to the trolley, and you're going to take out three balls, make a bit of a C shape. What you're going to do is you're going to bounce, hit, and you're going to try and hit your ball into the trolley. If you do, that's called a bullseye. Go! Oh, so close.