a lesson FROM my 6 yo
 

complete beginner, just another kid taken to the community court by dad and swing that over sized racket at some balls. (but I have never taught him anything yet)

so I am just soft tossing balls left and right to him... and to my surprise, he started doing shuffle steps to move to both sides and hit his 2 handed shots.

I praised him on the good footwork (had to then explain what the word 'footwork' means).. Here is his reply -

" If you run straight to the ball, you might run over the ball and miss it, but if you shuffle step, you can get to the right place and hit the ball"

I was speechless... maybe the boy has some hope, although the dad's tennis game is already damaged beyond repair lol.

LOL...your kid actually said shuttle steps...I don't think many kids that age say that term or even understand it.

Good Luck....must be fun playing with your own children.

It sounds like you have another Roger on your hands:




Or Andre, are you posting as dozu here on TT:

Andre Agassi & Steffi Graf - 'Son' Playing Tennis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN7rUSqKEPM

thx - I gave him the term 'shuffle' first, borrowed from here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_G4qGc2Zdk

yes.. this is Andre.

does he play any other sports/

2 seasons of soccer at the township peewee league, and 1 season of swimming.

i see. those are great sports to go with tennis. swimming because it is such a great workout and soccer for footwork. i have played defense my whole soccer life and from early on that is one thing i was taught to do, and that if you go straight at the ball you are leaving yourself wide open to be juked or overrun it.

dozu:
Although I shuffle step in Tennis, I don't find it quite helpful when going to a long ball. I was taught to take short steps (while still running) in order to correct the footwork at contact.

that is correct sir.

Sounds like you've got maybe 6 more years before he's eating your lunch on the court.

Cute story, kids are naturals if you just give them a little guidance. I coached the stroke technique and let all the footwork but split steps come naturally.

My 6.5 year old hit her first ball at 18 months old and can now hold her own with me in a rally. Within 3 years she will be beating me.

that's impressive at 6.5

Thanks, she has always been extremely coordinated. Just dumb luck I guess. A well coordinated kid who was exposed to tennis from such an early age.

my son is 2 but hasn't shown too much interest in hitting with the tennis racket. He hits baseballs, and does his little basket ball but he will only play with the racket.

Balloons work wonders. Hang one from the ceiling on a string at just the right height. He will hit low to high. Then use balloons off the string.

Kids learn fast. My girl went from balloons to foam balls to low compression balls very fast. By age 3 she could hit from the baseline fairly consistently.

The big thing here and I'm sure most of you realize this, is to keep the game/activity fun and always try to quit BEFORE the child wants too. You might be able to stretch your session out a little longer with when your out there but the child is going to be more reluctant to go along next time.

You guys are on the right track though, make it fun, weave in a little "tennis stuff" when there is a chance, let the child discover things for themselves and the kids will grow to love the game. Unfortunately, many parents don't understand this process like you guys. They try and re-live/re-invent their past by pushing too much and then become frustrated with the child's lack of interest.

I'll give that a try. He hits a tossed plastic baseball with a bat and a few times he hit tennis balls too but his favorite thing to do with his tennis racket is to use it as a cage for his super heros.

Try doing it yourself and acting like it is the most fun you have ever had. He may want to take the racquet away from you and do it himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LooXCxdk6JI

I am looking at this and thinking - why is it so natural, for a beginner kid to engage the core, while the adult beginners usually pick up a racket and start arming the ball.

to me there is only 1 reason... in relative terms, the ball weighs 5 times heavier to a kid, than to an adult.

What if, we give the adult a racket is 3lbs heavy, to hit a tennis ball that 5 times heavier... would that cure the arming problem?