How to teach a 1hbh to a young kid?

[TeamOB]

Many people say that the rarity of the 1hbh in today's tennis is due to the fact that kids are starting earlier and earlier. It seems that kids need to be playing by around 8 years old if they wanna make it big. The problem is that it is very difficult to teach a 1hbh to a kid this young. Most 8 year olds are not physically strong enough to hit a stable 1hbh. How would you go about this? If you wanted to teach a talented youngster a 1hbh, how would you go about it? Teach him a 2-hander first and have him switch as he gets older? Teach slice first and add a topspin 1hbh later on? Or start teaching a topspin shot from the beginning? Discuss.

 

[jrs]

Is strength an issue these days with the smaller racquets and the child specific tennis balls?

 

[easywin]

I had the opportunity to train a girl from age 5 to 6 and she was very talented - so she moved on to a better trainer.
She should be around 8 years of age right now and if I see her play, the midcourt playstyle is clearly favoring 2hbh (the level of play is what I'd call quite high for that age class). To sum it up, there is not much time to set up.

I'm not an expert in teaching kids but when kids make the step from midcourt to allcourt, higher trajectory can be expected and this will propably cause problems too.
I'd go for a 2hbh first, especially if you want the kid to "make it big".

 

[caugas]

why teach a one handed backhand, the future is the 2hbh am i assuming wrong

 

[CoachingMastery]

From experience, players who later show a propensity and desire to hit one-handed backhands will generally evolve to it. As long as the teaching professional teaches a solid one-handed backhand slice, players who learn first with two-handed topspin strokes will have little difficulty switching. However, teaching a one-handed backhand to youngsters is not only difficulty since it has a perception of weakness compared to the forehand, (and thus, they develop a poor foundation on the one-handed backhand), the greater difficulty is working with players who were first taught one-handed backhands poorly and then they want to learn two-handed backhands.