Dublin Lesson Logs
Every week, we will post a brief summary of that days lesson.
11/18/20
Today we had a very large clinic and first had everyone change their zoom names for our new attendance method. We then jumped right in with some Jumping Jakes and Sky Reaches. Next, we did some forehands and backhands then introduced two new drills that are very well known, Crab Walks and Bear Crawls. We then did some groundstrokes (forehands and backhands) followed by some burpees and a water break. Afterwards, we tried another new drill that involves the kids giving us their favorite and least favorite drills, and flipping a coin to decide which drill to do. We then did some serves and overheads leading into the big drill consisting of the forehand, backhand, serve, and overhead. Next, we had another quick water break and then did some Mountain Climbers and Squat Jumps. We finished with some Count to 10 and the kids told a bunch of jokes to conclude the clinic. The kids got to 10 this week and we are hosting a show and tell next week!
11/11/20
Another great clinic today! First, we warmed up with the classic Jumping Jakes and continued warming up with some Lunges. We stretched out with Open and Close the Gates, and reviewed our groundstrokes. After doing an amazing job on the groundstrokes, we had a lot of fun with the spider jumps and knee pulls. After a quick water break, we did High knees and Butt kicks as fast as we could to get warmed up again after the break and practiced the serves right after. Since the kids did such a good job today, we played Would you Rather to spice things up. After finishing the game, we reviewed the volleys and put everything together with the big drill where we shuffle, hit a forehand, shuffle, hit a backhand, 2 squat jumps, hit a volley, and end things off with an overhead. After the big drill, we brought back Tennisman to review the tennis court rules and ended things off with Count to 10! See you all next week!
11/4/20
Today we had a change in coaches and talked about Halloween, School, Life. First, we warmed up with Jumping Jakes. Then, we warmed up our legs with some squats. The kids were tired after that so we reviewed our groundstrokes. We then tried to get the kids to break a little bit more of sweat so we did arm circles. After that the kids were tired again, so we practiced our volleys and went into a quick water break to give the kids some rest. With the time running a little short, we finished our exercises with wormjakes then quickly moved onto some games. We played Would you Rather and Count to 10. The kids almost got to 10 this week and they’re getting closer and closer every clinic. That concludes a great clinic and hope to see you all next week!
10/28/20
We started off with Jumping Jakes and knee pulls to warm up. Next, we reviewed the Serve stroke and stretched even more with the Frankensteins. After that, we reviewed the overheads and made sure the students knew the similarities and differences between it and the serves. We exploded into Spider jumps and doubled the reps for the Fitness Mode. After a quick water break, we reviewed the groundstrokes and had a lot of fun with star jumps. After asking the kids what drills they want to do, we ended up doing lunges and burpees. We practiced everything we have learned by doing a big drill where we shuffled to the dominant side, hit a forehand, shuffled to the other side and hit a backhand, did some butt kicks, run up, and ended the drill by hitting a forehand and backhand volley. We played a couple of rounds of Simon Says, had a little fun quiz to review everything we have learned, and ended the clinic off with Count to 10!
10/21/20
Today's clinic was refreshing! We started off with some classic Jumping Jakes and continued on with split jakes. Next, we reviewed the Serve stroke and stretched even more with the side lunges and knee pulls. After that, we reviewed the overheads and exploded into some High knees and Butt kicks. We did some squat jumps, and practiced ground strokes. Then, we had a lot of fun with wormjakes and let the kids run the drill for a couple of minutes by letting them choose a drill. We then had a new drill where we yelled a stroke/exercise and the kids do it. After a brief water break, we practiced a drill where the kids do a forehand, run up on their toes, forehand volley, backhand volley, backpedal and finish off with the backhands. Since the kids did a great job with the drill, we played Tennisman and ended the clinic with Count to 10!
10/14/20
Today's clinic was great! We started off with some classic Jumping Jakes and warmed up with the Spider jumps. Next, we reviewed the volleys and groundstrokes to make sure that kids still remember the form, and had some fun with the Skyreach exercise. We exploded into some Frankensteins, and after following a brief water break, we practiced a drill where the kids run up, split step, hit a volley, backpedal, and hit a groundstroke. Since the kids did a great job with the drill, we played a game where the coaches asked the kids for a drill or exercise. After that, we did the wormjakes, a favorite among the kids, and practiced a bigger drill where they serve, split step, hit a groundstroke, split step, hit a volley, and finish it off with an overhead. We then ended off the clinic with the Simon Says and Count to 10 games!
10/07/20
This week, we started off with some classic Jumping Jakes to practice split step and ready position. Next, we warmed up with the Burpees and stretched out with the Open and Close gate exercise. After that, we practiced a new drill where the students ran up and down with their toes and split-stepped into Forehand or Backhand. After a quick water break, we reviewed our serves and jumped into a drill that included all the stokes we learned so far including volleys, serves, overheads, and groundstrokes. We decided to have some fun after the drill, and we had the kids decide what exercise they wanted to do. Following a quick stretch-out with the knee pulls, we played the Would you Rather and Simon Says game. We ended off the clinic with the famous Count to 10 game!
9/30/20
Today's clinic was awesome! We started off with some classic Jumping Jakes to practice split step and ready position. Next, we stretched out with the Skyreachers and reviewed the Serve. After that, we practiced our forehands and backhands and had some fun with the Wormjakes exercise. Then we practiced the forehand and backhand volleys and then reviewed the new stroke, the overhead. We did some more wormjakes and exploded into starjumps per the students' request. We jumped into a drill where we practice all the strokes consequently. and following a brief water break, we played the game Would you rather. Finally, we ended the clinic with some fun activities such as Simon says and Count to 10!
9/23/20
Today’s clinic was short but super productive! We started off with some classic Jumping Jakes to practice split step and ready position. Next, we reviewed the new stroke, the overhead, and warmed up even more with the jump rope exercise. Then we practiced the forehands and backhands and then had some fun with butt kicks. We jumped into some volleys, and following a brief water break, we showed the students a tennis match and had them predict what stroke the player would use. Finally, we ended the clinic with two activities: wormjakes and Count to 10!
9/16/20
This week, we started off with jumping jakes, then went to forehands and backhands emphasizing the chest turn. Next, we did spiderjumps and transitioned to volleys. After that, we stretched out with sky reaches and went right back to it with serves and wormjakes. Afterwards, we did overheads and then drilled all of the tennis drills as combos together. Finally, we finished off with the fun games of Simon Says and Count to 10 for another great clinic!
9/9/20
Today we tried something new with our agenda. We started once again with some classic Jumping Jakes. Next, we went into some forehands and backhands and moved into some Frankensteins. Then, we jumped into some volleys, “on your toes”, and serves. Afterwards, we taught the kids a new stroke, the overhead, and then the kids did a drill involving every stroke they’ve learned so far: serves, forehand and backhand groundstrokes, forehand and backhand volleys, and overheads. Following a brief water break, we asked the kids for an exercise and went into some Spidermans. To end the clinic, we finished off with some Simon Says and Count to 10.
9/2/20
Today we started with some simple Jumping Jakes and star jumps. Next, we asked the kids for an exercise they wanted to do and did a couple reps of that. We then went into some forehand and backhand groundstrokes and followed that up with some serves and volleys. Afterwards, the kids did some Split Jakes and squats and then took a quick water break. We finished off the physical clinic with knee pulls and ended off with some Would You Rather and Count to 10.
8/26/20
Today we started again with some Jumping Jakes and went into some rigorous butt kicks and high knees to get the kids active and moving. Afterwards, we did a more relaxing exercise, side lunges, to help the kids cool down. We then went into a tennis drill involving the forehand groundstroke with a split step into the backhand volley. Jumping on the trend of the past two weeks, we continued with teaching the kids the serve. The kids did some simple arm circles and after that we did some burpees without the pushup, which led into a well deserved water break. Since summer is nearing close for some kids, we decided to share something interesting we did this summer and finished off the clinic with some Tennisman and a few rounds of Count to 10.
8/19/20
Today we once again started off with some Jumping Jakes. Next, we brought back the exercise Opening and Closing the Gate. Just like last week, we asked the kids for another exercise to do. Afterwards, we reviewed the serve which we taught the kids last week, and also covered the volley that we have been teaching the past few weeks. We then cooled down with some Sky Reaches and Worm Jakes before going into the rigorous Spider Jumps, where you jump as high as you can and try to bring your knees to your chest. Finally, we played some Would You Rather and finished off the clinic with a few games of Count to 10.
8/12/20
Today we started off with something new by asking the kids to vote on an exercise and doing it. We then moved into something more familiar with Split Jakes, which is just repeated jumping from lunge to lunge on the opposite leg. Next, we tried a very tiring exercise keeping the kids on their toes, by having them sprint in place as fast as they can, but only on their toes. Afterwards, we went into our usual ground stroke drills with a split step. Afterwards we taught any newer kids the serve for the very first time, which is arguably the most important stroke in tennis since it starts every point. Next, we cooled down with some simple toe touches and Frankenstein's. We then did some learn the tennis court and tried something new with the coaches screen sharing a video of the 2019 Wimbledon Finals between Federer and Nadal and analyzed basic things such as the score and where to serve. Finally, we finished off with the classic Count to 10.
8/5/20
Today we once again started with the classic Jumping Jakes! Just like last week, we went into some Wormjakes to get the kids moving instantly. Next, we did some squat jumps to get some intense exercise on the quads. Afterwards, we utilized the cost-free equipment that some of our students received from the partnership with the USTA in some groundstrokes and volleys, and of course, emphasizing the split step and ready position. We then went into some high knees to help the kids cool down. This week, we tried a new game called “Would You Rather” that involves the kids choosing between tennis drills or fun things such as candies. Finally, we finished with some Simon Says and a couple games of Count to 10.
7/29/20
Today we started with the original Jumping Jakes which gets the kids used to the split step into a ready position. To keep working the legs, we did some basic lunges. Next, we introduced two new exercises: “Sky Reaches” and “Wormjakes”. Both stretch the entire body with sky reaches having you get on the tip of your toes and then “reaching for the sky” while Wormjakes have you crawl out and back. Afterwards, we did forehands and backhands for both volleys and groundstrokes, with split steps practiced through the Jumping Jakes earlier. We then went into something new which is using screen sharing to conduct a pop quiz to test the kids’ tennis understanding. Finally, we finished off the clinic with some good old Tennisman and a few games of Count to 10.
7/22/20
We started with some very basic stretches, Frankenstein’s and High Knees. Next, we reviewed the forehands and backhands that we learned from last week with a split step. Sticking with the split step, we moved into some forehand and backhand volleys. We then learned a new exercise called “Spiderjakes”, where you jump as high as you can and bring your knees to your chest. Then we did some butt kicks as a cool down stretch and had a quick water break. Afterwards, we played a few games of Simon Says and Count to 10 and finished off the clinic with a coach screen sharing their screen to help the kids visually learn the anatomy of a tennis court.
7/15/20
Today we once again had a large influx of kids due to new registrations from the new Olentangy Branch of the Dublin Tennis Outreach Program. Due to this, we focused on an all important aspect of tennis: the split step and ready position. We started off by teaching the kids what a split step is, and why the ready position is important while having them do a few reps. Next, we taught the kids how to do a Split Jake, an exercise that focuses on the leg muscles involved in split steps. Afterwards, we had the kids work on their split steps even more by having them do it before doing either a forehand or backhand. Then, we switched to an arm exercise with a water break to let the kids rest their legs. The exercise, arm circles, help blood flow through the arms and move the shoulders, both of which are very important in tennis. After arm circles, we moved into star jumps, which have the kids start in a squat and jump from that squat position. We then had a coach screenshare a game called “Tennisman”, which is our kid-friendly spin on the well known “Hangman”. After Tennisman, we kept with screen sharing and utilized it to teach the kids the anatomy of a tennis court, which we will do often in future weeks. Finally, at the end of the clinic we all met up and had Coach Steven get pied due to a room winning the game, “Count to 10”.
7/8/20
Today we started off with more Jumping Jakes, moving directly into some basic forehand and backhand combos with split steps practiced from the Jumping Jakes. Next, we went into some stretches that target the quads with side lunges, where you lunge to the side rather than forward, and knee pulls, where you pull your knee towards your chest. We then introduced the forehand volley, which contrasts with a forehand ground stroke in that you hit it out of the air. To finish off the breakout rooms, we played a game of tennis-related charades. At the very end of the clinic, we did something special as the kids in one of the breakout rooms from last week won the count to 10 game, so at the end of the clinic, we all joined the main room and watched Coach Bryan get pied in the face, which the kids were quite amused by.
7/1/20
In today’s virtual clinic we broke up again into breakout rooms, which we will be doing until we go back to in-person clinics. We started off with Jumping Jakes to reinforce the crucial split step and ready position. Afterwards, we jumped right into reviewing the forehand, which will come back in future clinics often because of its importance in tennis. We then went into some conditioning drills that work the quadriceps and hamstrings which are often used in tennis. Next, we reviewed the counterpart of the forehand, which is the backhand. We tried something new this clinic, which we call “Tennisman”, which is essentially just the game “Hangman” but focused on tennis instead. Finally, we finished the clinic with a few games of Count to 10 and the same screen sharing of a tennis court as last week.
6/24/20
Today we once again split into four different rooms in order to have a more controlled learning environment for the kids. We reviewed everything from the last clinic to help the kids remember important foundations and to help any newcomers who couldn’t make it to the last clinic. This consisted of reviewing the split step, ready position, opening/closing the gate, and Jumping Jakes in the first few minutes of the clinic. Afterwards, we taught the kids to practice squatting with a racquet out in front of them. We then moved into forehands, which are an essential groundstroke using one hand depending on the child’s dominant side. Next, we reviewed the backhand, which is generally a two-handed stroke used on the child’s nondominant side. Since the backhand and forehand are essentially used in every aspect of tennis gameplay, we will repeat drills involving the two in order to perfect them. After all the drills, we went into the usual games of Simon Says and Count to 10. Finally, we ended off with the coaches leading a screen share so that the kids could learn the anatomy of a tennis court.
6/17/20
In this virtual clinic we had many new students join! Luckily, we also had many new coaches join our wonderful team! To help manage the large amount of kids, we broke out into 4 breakout rooms with a main coach and a few coaches in each room in order to help the kids get more consistent feedback. This way, Director William could monitor each room, while still maintaining the lesson plan within each room. Since we had many new students, we went back and covered the basics starting with a split step leading into ready position. Afterwards, we introduced a very familiar conditioning exercise that incorporated the fore mentioned drill, the Jumping Jake, where a regular jumping jack ends with ready position. We continued this with another conditioning drill, called opening and closing the doors, which stretches essential muscles used in tennis, helping to prevent injury. To conclude the drills, we taught the kids a crucial stroke in tennis, the backhand, which is a ground stroke on your non-dominant side. We concluded the clinic with two games, one being Simon Says using the drills we learned as a review, the other being the Count to 10 game.
6/10/20
Continuing with the trend of online clinics, we had our new potential coaches join us in our virtual clinics! Today’s clinic was a much needed review clinic over everything we covered in the past few clinics: forehand, backhand, volley, and of course, the serve. Contrary to the review, the kids learned two new basic exercises, lunges and arm circles. Although elementary, these exercises are crucial for key parts of the body used in tennis. Afterwards, we introduced the anatomy of the tennis court through Zoom’s screen sharing feature. Finally, we finished with the kids’ favorite game: count to 10.
6/3/20
We started off this week's virtual clinic with a stretch known as "Frankenstein's" as we waited for everyone to join. Afterwards, we demonstrated and practiced serves, starting with trophy pose and ending with a follow through. We did the forehand volley, starting with a split step in ready position and ending with a push with the dominant hand and cross-stepping with the opposite foot. For conditioning, we did frankensteins (high kicks), and several sets of squat jumps for a good leg and cardio workout. After a water break, we played charades with tennis-related moves and the drills we learned in today’s clinic and had the kids mirror us, then guess what we were demonstrating. For fun, at the end, we played a count to 5 game as a team (it’s harder than it sounds) and the kids, after 5 tries, finally got it! Photos of some of the drills done by the coaches are shown below.
5/25/20
Today we held our first ever virtual Dublin TOP clinic! We began our lesson with two basic no-equipment drills: air forehands and backhands paired with a split step and shuffle. With the coaches correcting forms through Zoom Video Chat, the kids followed the coach demonstrations. To keep the clinic engaging, we played a tennis-themed charades and a team bonding exercise where the students had to count to 10 without overlapping one another. Afterwards, the DTOP team taught the students two different conditioning exercise that they can do at home, high knees and butt kicks. Finally, for any kids with access to a racket and ball, we introduced an at home drill to practice the ball toss for serves.
3/14/20 - 5/20/20
In advance of Gov. Mike DeWine's order prohibiting mass indoor gatherings as a result of COVID-19, all Dublin Tennis Outreach Program Tennis Clinics will be cancelled until at least Monday, April 13, or until we receive additional information from the Governor's Office. This is for the protection of our students, coaches, and parents. Stay safe everyone and don't forget to wash your hands and practice social distancing!
3/7/20
We began our weekly clinic with some ground strokes followed by the same drill of coming up to the net and volleying. We transitioned to working on arguably the most important shot of the game: the serve. We first started with a ball drill, practicing the student's ball toss and throwing motion, followed by real serves. We ended things off with Jail.
3/1/20
A Sunday clinic this week. It was great to have yet another passionate high school peer come shadow today: Nithil Balaji. We began things off with ground strokes, carefully implementing the split step. We then did an approach shot, volley drill where the students hit an approach shot on either side and then came to the net to put the ball away. We ended things off with a large game of Jail.
2/22/20
With five coaches today, we were able to have a phenomenal clinic! On courts 1-3 we had specific drills as mentioned below, and on court 4, our new coach, Isaac Frank, worked personally with some of our young beginner level students. We began with a quick warm up of ground strokes and jumped straight into King/Queen of the court. We ended with a big game of jail, splitting up into two lines.
2/16/20
Another usual Sunday clinic. Although it was rather late, the kids were still full of energy. This time, we were very fortunate to have yet another passionate high school student, Naomi Chen, come in to shadow the Dublin TOP team as she takes the same interest in coaching these young kids the sport she loves. We began things off with ground strokes followed with an approach shot drill as the students would hit an aggressive ball and come up to the net to finish the point off with a volley. We ended things off with a large game of Jail. In the midst of this, our new Coach Isaac Frank was working personally with a new students of ours. The patience and persistence that Isaac was able to put in paid off at the end as our new student began hitting the ball over the net! Coach Isaac is a good example of the impact that young teenage students can make, even if it is only a minor impact.
2/8/20
Back to the normal Saturday schedule, we had a very similar clinic as last week. With Coach William working with a new student, Coach Frank and Coach Sai led the group. They began with the usual ground stroke warm ups and continued to volleys. Afterwards, we played a little rendition of King/Queen of the court where the kids had to hit an approach shot, followed by a volley at the net. With this, we were able to introduce the "Split Step" to our students. Essentially what the split step does is prepare the player to be ready and hit the ball.
2/2/20
A Sunday clinic once again due to time conflicts but still phenomenal! We were very lucky to have yet another passionate high school student, Isaac Frank, who shared the same motivation of teaching young children tennis join us this week. We started off with some warm up ground strokes. It is truly amazing to see these kids improving every week using this repetitive drill. We then played some King/Queen of the Court as introduced last week. Afterwards, we worked on our volleys, ending things off with a long game of Jail.
1/25/20
Exciting clinic this week! Special thank you to Kareen Sud and Sudiksha Pelluru from the Dublin Jerome girls tennis team for coming to shadow the Dublin TOP coaches in teaching our young students. It is so great to see like minded high school students that share the same goal of giving back through tennis and have the desire to participate in the Dublin Tennis Outreach Program. We began things off with ground stroked to get the kids warmed up. Afterwards, we played a new game called "King and Queen of the Court", a game focusing on the consistency and play making skills of the students. Thereafter, the kids practiced their volleys along with their serves using previously taught drills. Like always, we ended clinic with a fun game of jail.
1/19/20
Although we needed to have some last minute time changes due to time conflict with the Racquet Club schedule, we still had yet another great clinic. We started things off with forehands and backhands to get the kids warmed up. We then transitioned to volleys, emphasizing the need to step forward with your opposite foot. Our last drill was with serves. Over the past weeks, we have worked on the kid's tosses and accuracy using non-racket drills, but now with the preparation, we went straight to serving with rackets. Coach Bryan can be seen down below demonstrating to the kids. As always, we ended things off with a fun game of Jail.
1/11/20
This weeks tennis clinic was canceled as the Dublin TOP gave a presentation at the Columbus Metropolitan Library - Dublin Branch spreading the awareness of Dublin TOP's mission and purpose. Read More
1/4/20
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12/28/19
This weeks clinic was canceled due to Holidays. Hope everyone has a great New Year!
12/21/19
Happy Holidays to all! With the holiday season taking place, there were fewer students today, only requiring Coach William and Sai rather than all four coaches. We continued to work on forehands and backhands, implementing different games that the kids could play to make things more interesting. Afterwards, we worked on volleys, introducing the backhand volley. Lastly, we ended off with some serving drills and Jail as seen in the pictures below.
12/14/19
We began with 20 minutes of forehands and backhands, alternating between each one in designated lines. Once again, all three team members of the Dublin Branches were here today to come help out with coach William who worked personally with some newcomers. Afterwards, we continued with volleys, using the technique of high-fiving the ball, demonstrated below by coach Brian. We ended things off with some more serving drills and Jail.
12/7/19
A very similar clinic to last week! We started off with 20 minutes of forehands and backhands to continue to hammer the fundamentals. We were fortunate enough to have all three team members of the Dublin Branches to come help out with coach William walking around to personally correct each students form. We ended things off again with some serving drills as the kids worked on their hand eye coordination with the red balls. Lastly, we played one quick round of Jail over the big net!
11/30/19
The second day after Thanksgiving! What better way to end the month of November than to play some tennis! We continued with the usual drills that targeted both forehands and backhands through repetition. Through these drills, we introduced King/Queen of the court where the kids need to win a point to become the new King or Queen. Furthermore, we also practiced the serve toss combined with a new hand eye coordination drill where the kids try to toss a ball up using their left hand and hit it out of the air with another ball using their right hand. Once again, we ended the clinic with one big game of jail as seen below.
11/23/19
A great clinic today, as always! We continued to work on the forehand, but today, we also incorporated the backhand as an introduction to future clinics. This way, in a few weeks, the students will be able to hit rally balls with each other with both types of ground stokes. We ended things off with a few games of Jail to work on their newly learned backhands and semi stable forehands. Lastly, we reviewed our court lines by having the students run to each line that Coach William called out.
11/16/19
Some exciting development as we had three coaches at today's clinic! With the extra assistance from Sai, a Dublin Coffman Junior Varsity Tennis Player, we were able to give the kids a lot more individual attention as coach William monitored the kids strokes as the other coaches fed the balls. We started off with two rounds of forehands, continuing to focus on the fundamentals. We then proceeded with a few rounds of "Jail" which is a game made to practice the kid's consistency and patience. Coach William ended the lesson with a fun little game that taught the students the different lines on the tennis court. The pictures provided below give a little more context.
11/9/19
Yet another great evening of tennis with the kids! We started things off with some more forehands to continue to hammer in the fundamentals. We talked about being in 1.)Ready Position, 2.)Taking the Racket Back, 3.)Dropping the Racket, and finally 4.)Following Through to hit the ball. Step two of taking the racket back is perfectly demonstrated below by Dublin TOP team member, Bryan Li! After forehands, we introduced a new game with the name "Jail" which works on consistency with the kids. Lastly, we worked/introduced tossing the ball for serves which we ended with the kids attempting just to make contact.
11/2/19
Exciting first indoor clinic today at the Racquet Club of Columbus! Huge thank you to the club for providing this great opportunity for the kids of Dublin TOP. Aside from getting used to the indoor environment of the tennis courts, we continued to work on forehands and volleys. With our new set up at the Racquet Club, we will be able to give the kids more play time per lesson. Pictures are provided below!
10/26/19
Unfortunately, due to weather, the courts were too slippery to play on. This weeks clinic was canceled.
10/19/19
With a smaller turn out this week due to some kids having time conflicts, we were able to work a little more personally with the kids that did come. Besides continuing to work on the usual ground strokes and volleys, we started the very beginning steps of arguably the most important shot in tennis: the serve. In particular, we worked on the kid's toss. Using a drill that the kids can even do at home, they attempted to throw their ball about a racket length above their head and attempt to land as close to their feet as possible.
10/12/19
We were able to finally introduce the backhand to the kids! As we were seeing progression in their forehands, we began to teach the basics of the backhand. These include how to hold the racket along with how to take it back from ready position. Furthermore, we continued to practice volleys with the kids. As the winter months are creeping up, we will begin to transition to indoor courts provided by The Racquet Club of Columbus. Photos are attached below.
10/5/19
We continued to work on forehands and volleys, emphasizing volleys a bit more. Our end goal is to combine these two together to where the kids can learn to come up to the net after hitting a good shot (forehand) to finish the point.
9/28/19
Working with the youth felt balls for the first time, we continued to work on the forehand along with adding a little twist by having the kids come up to the net for a volley. Right now the method to hit the volley is to have the kids "high-five" the ball. This way, the fear of being so close to the net is taken away. Pictures of this weeks lesson is attached below.
9/21/19
Unfortunately, due to whether, the courts were too slippery to play on. This weeks clinic was canceled. What to expect next week: More work on the forehand and start learning volley's using youth felt balls.
9/14/19
With the help of a former teammate and now Jerome tennis player, Frank Li, we emphasized the forehand today, mainly focusing on taking the racket back every time you want to hit the ball. Through repetition, the goal is to make it a habit for the kids to take the racket back every time they see a forehand. We also worked a little on dropping the racket to generate racket lag that would give the kids the needed power to hit the ball.