Tennis training aids
 

Does anybody have any experience with using tennis training aids to teach juniors or adults? I see that there is the serve doctor to teach beginner's the correct location of the ball during the serve. There is also a tool to teach topspin and another tool to teach the whip like motion of the modern forehand. These tools seem very interesting just wondering if anybody has used them. My daughter is 7 and some of these techniques are very difficult to teach.

dont buy any of that mess. Spend the money with a good coach.

there are very few tennis "training aids" worth anything. Let me know if you find any :)

best one I know of......ball machine.

I live up north, so I am spending a ton on indoor court fees during the Winter. She's in a group lesson, but I just can't afford privates for now. She's having a problem with her serve motion. I was going to buy the serve doctor so she can get used to the correct mechanics of the serve motion without having to worry about the ball toss. It's only 30 bucks so if it doesn't work, I can use it to knock down cobwebs around the house:)

I'm old school, but we used to teach the classic service motion at camps I worked at using a continious motion loop, that would not require tossing a ball, or being on the court. Basically you are at the starting point of the serve, go through the motion, and return to the ready position. You can then keep going, and make it a constant motion swing. Of course, that was using the classic loop figure 8 motion. If you are teaching the newer Roddick type "throw the ball up and hit it" motion, might not work. Either way, you could work on your service motion anywhere you have enough room to swing a racket without breaking anything.

I suspect they are all a waste of money

I started recently to watch many clips of top pros in slow motion on Youtube. These pros, men or women, are the best teachers (or teaching reference) for techniques. You can tape your kids and let kids compare the video. It's truly amazing! One local coach charges $75 an hr doing the same thing. I should have done this 4-5 years ago. It's very hard to break a bad habit for a 16 yr old. We still take privates from a former ATP pro, who can hit balls to almost anywhere from everywhere - nice to confirm that he teaches what most touring pros do today.:)

Cones, jump ropes and rubber bands for strengthening.

And run sprints, suicides, 400M, miles for endurance

I've done this too. I posted a video of my daughter couple months ago, and the feedback I got was her technique was all wrong. I compared hers to the pros and saw the difference right away. Now she has the elbow leading the racket back, her left hand holding racket during take back, and she finishes the swing with the racket pointing behind her. She's still got a long way to go, but I'm glad I changed her forehand motion. She's the only one with the modern forehand technique in her group class.

Yep, I just bought a jump rope and cones. Got her started with plyometrics yesterday. I think this will improve her overall coordination and quickness. She's too young but as she gets older, I'll probably have her run miles and weight training. But what can I say, I am a sucker for gadgets. I was always impressed with those Ginsu knife commercials, but never fell for the Flowbee if anyone remember that one from the 80's.

LOL. I remember the Flowbee. It always looked very dangerous to me and produced not a terribly stylish haircut.

Another testimony that parents can help their kids in tennis training.:)

The biggest training tool I discovered was an internal revelation that although I was a high level athlete in my youth I do not have the experience or knowledge base to coach my daughter to be a great tennis player. What I have done is focus on what I know and that's speed, flexibility and strength development and have left the tennis technique to the tennis professionals. Training equipment is great if you know how to teach with it and for that you must be an athlete your self. That said, you don't need much to enhance strength and movement.

Strongly suggest racket bracket for volleys and atp belt for athletic stance.