Tips on teaching tennis to a beginner?

[iradical18]

I'm trying to teach my girlfriend how to play tennis. She's been getting better since we started at getting the ball over the net on a consistent basis, however it stills seems that she is pulling her shots across her body and her footwork is terrible. She is a lefty by the way. I'm not a teaching pro by any means, for some reason it's kind of difficult for me to put in words what I want her to do. I'm going to try and post some video of her strokes later today to give you guy's a better idea of what she needs help on.

[JCo872]

I'm trying to teach my girlfriend how to play tennis. She's been getting better since we started at getting the ball over the net on a consistent basis, however it stills seems that she is pulling her shots across her body and her footwork is terrible. She is a lefty by the way. I'm not a teaching pro by any means, for some reason it's kind of difficult for me to put in words what I want her to do. I'm going to try and post some video of her strokes later today to give you guy's a better idea of what she needs help on.

Here is my favorite beginner's instruction:
http://jco872.tennishow.hop.clickbank.net/

What I like about Tomaz's approach is that he has beginners start with almost no backswing so they get the feel of contacting the ball properly and extending through the shot. When beginners take the racket back they end up "swinging" at the ball rather than contacting it properly and driving through the ball properly. This unstructured swing at the ball results in coming across the body too quickly and slapping or swatting the ball.

What Tomaz does is he has players start with almost no backswing and work on contact and follow through. He also has them start from the service line so it is very easy to time the ball.

If she can get contact in front of the body and a full follow through down, then it will be easy to just add more of a unit turn later on for more power.

Good luck!

[Tennismastery]

If I can offer some input here...If you are a member of TennisOne.com (or sign up for the free month), I have a 7 part series on training a beginner. It documents real time training of my 8 year old daughter. The techniques, drills and progressions are the same I use for adults and older juniors as the Advanced Foundation, (the cornerstone of my teaching philosophy), works for every age and level of player.

I would also recommend my book...but, I don't want to self promote here.

There are many good sites, books and videos. Also, I will have my new book, COACHING MASTERY out in January here at Tennis Warehouse, a 400 page book for coaches, tennis parents, and tennis teaching pros to train beginners to top-ranked players individually or, as I have done for 35 years, in large groups.

[iradical18]

Thanks a lot for the good advice, I'll definitely check out your book, I've heard good things.

[tenniko]

Don't forget patience, it's a good thing to have.

[10s talk]

kiss


keep It Simple Stupid