Beginner training plan
Your first lessonFirst of all, I talk to them about their experience. In trying to learn tennis. Find out their background. and what may be several of their goals, such as being able to play with their friends who are semi beginners, just be able to control the ball and sustain a rally. Or it may be to play competitively on a high school or college team someday. Then I will go over the different grips needed to hit forehand backhand, etc. then talk about some of the skills specific to build their ability such as how to watch the ball being hit by the strings and keeping your eye on the place, the ball used to be after you hit it. Then, then we will move over to a training aid. I have called a stroke master. It is a flexible rod with a tennis ball on the end that gives them a motionless ball to swing on and make contact with. Then. I will demonstrate the proper form for hitting a forehand, how to put your feet how to turn your shoulders into the shot, watch the ball and a proper complete follow-through. Depending upon their ability to swing and make contact with the String on the stroke master, I will actually stand 30 feet back and pitch them an underhanded ball that sits up in their strike zone. 90% of the time a beginner will find it difficult to make String contact with the ball. This is when they find out how difficult the sport of TENNIS actually is. I keep it low-key and say “all we want to do is hit the ball on the strings today. We don’t care where the ball goes, so don’t worry about that”. One of the things I try to accomplish in their first lesson is to put them at ease and don’t worry if they can’t hit the ball, etc. I think it’s very important to establish a relaxed rapport with students and be as patient as you possibly. Can. I tell them “if you knew how to do this you wouldn’t be hiring me to teach you so don’t worry you’re gonna get better“ the more relaxed, they feel about making a mistake the faster they will learn according to Bloom’s taxonomy of education. At the end of the lesson, we do a quick review on the things we tried to accomplish and how well we did with those beginning techniques. The review is very important at formulating and establishing their goals and complementing them on how well they’ve done.
