How to Coach Tennis

Coaching tennis is a rewarding way to pass on your knowledge of the game to less experienced players. Whether you are looking to coach a high school or college team, give private lessons or just teach the basics to a family member, you can enjoy watching your students grow as tennis players.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Tennis rackets
• Tennis apparel
• Several cans of tennis balls

1. Define your goals and the goals of your players. If you are just teaching the basics to a brand-new player, you will require a slower, more hands-on approach than if you are trying to coach a high school tennis team to a state championship.
2. Determine the skill levels of your players. For informal lessons, this can be done by simply asking them their experience and watching them hit some balls. But to coach a competitive team, you'll need to run more extensive skill and endurance exercises, separating the players into varsity and junior varsity squads if appropriate.
3. Start with footwork. Players should know how to move around the tennis court, staying on the balls of their feet at all times. Even as their play improves, footwork drills should be a part of every coaching session.
4. Work on one type of stroke at a time, focusing on the proper grip, stance and movement. Start with the forehand, and then move on to the backhand, volley and serve. Once the players know various strokes, hit them different kinds of shots so that they can practice getting into position and changing grips quickly.
5. Once the players have reached a sufficient level of proficiency, have them start rallying and playing matches against one another, or against you if you are acting as a private coach. In a team practice, try to match players with opponents of roughly equal skill levels.
6. Pick up copies of "Coaching Tennis Successfully," by the United States Tennis Association, and "The Tennis Drill Book," by Tina Hoskins, at Amazon (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Coach your team in both singles and doubles play. Most matches against other schools will have both categories, so you'll want your players well trained in the nuances of each.
• To coach tennis effectively, you have to be able to read your players. You want to push them to excel, but be careful not to push them to a point of frustration. Tennis is a demanding sport, both mentally and physically.