"PracticeHit" Training Aid Good Starting Device for Child?

varuscelli

Professional
I'm curious as to whether you folks out there who have any experience training very young children (5-year-old age range) think that the PracticeHit training aid would be a good "starter" device for helping to teach a kid how to hit a tennis ball.

http://www.practicehit.com/kids_tennis_training_kids_baseball_training.htm

It LOOKS like it would be a nice tool (among others) to help get a kid to be able to confidently swing at a ball before you brought them to a level of having to hit a ball that's not actually..."confined" to a small area (if you understand what I mean).

Think this could be a good stepping stone before moving forward?
 

varuscelli

Professional
jackofromalsager said:
this looks gud if it is wet and rainy and u cant play out doors and u dfont have indoor courts near by !

Interesting reply! Maybe not quite what I was looking for, but interesting nonetheless...

jackofromalsager, do you have much experience teaching tennis to young children (age 5 or so)?
 

Bagumbawalla

Talk Tennis Guru
It seems the idea is similar to "T" ball in baseball. That is a valid concept.

A 5 yr old may have trouble with a bouncing ball, but may get some satisfaction from hitting this device. 5 years old is fairly young, but if he/she sees others playing and expresses interest in learning AND has trouble with a moving ball, then-- why not?
 

Tennismastery

Professional
varuscelli said:
I'm curious as to whether you folks out there who have any experience training very young children (5-year-old age range) think that the PracticeHit training aid would be a good "starter" device for helping to teach a kid how to hit a tennis ball.

http://www.practicehit.com/kids_tennis_training_kids_baseball_training.htm

It LOOKS like it would be a nice tool (among others) to help get a kid to be able to confidently swing at a ball before you brought them to a level of having to hit a ball that's not actually..."confined" to a small area (if you understand what I mean).

Think this could be a good stepping stone before moving forward?

I mentioned this tool in the other post of starting out young kids. I used the PracticeHit with my 5 year old only...not tossed balls, not tee-ball. Only worked with it with her about 2 minutes once in a while. When she was six, she had a perfect swing from using the device and having defined her topspin swing. The practice hit has the sponge ball coming back to her slowly and allowed her to learn the timing of hitting an object coming towards her.

The other nice thing is that using the PracticeHit, the student doesn't concern himself with where the ball is going. Kids and adults alike will change their swing to try and steer or direct a ball with that intention. The PracticeHit really allows the player to focus on the swing.

Use it in front of a mirror to build the image for the player to associate the feel of the proper swing with the visual aspect of seeing oneself in the mirror. Seldom do players really get to see themselves swing...other than a video. (Mirror is lots cheaper and immediate!)

That is my two-cents on the subject. (Even though I promote the use of the device, I don't have any association with the maker.) By the way, those of you on the two-handed forehand thread might recognize me hitting the two-handed forehand on the PracticeHit web site...filmed during a lecture I gave at the USPTA convention in California.)
 

varuscelli

Professional
Tennismastery said:
I mentioned this tool in the other post of starting out young kids.

Funny...I must have seen the PracticeHit website after going through the previous thread and I guess your reference didn't register with me at the time.

But thanks for revisiting it here.

I appreciate it. :)
 

varuscelli

Professional
Tennismastery said:
By the way, those of you on the two-handed forehand thread might recognize me hitting the two-handed forehand on the PracticeHit web site...filmed during a lecture I gave at the USPTA convention in California.)

Hey, I'd love to see that. Do you happen to have a link to the page that shows that particular video? (There seem to be quite a few brief videos on the site and I'm not spotting it right off.)
 

varuscelli

Professional
Dual Recoil Balls Accessory for PracticeHit?

As a side question, does anyone have any feedback on the "dual recoil balls" as an accessory for the PracticeHit? The guy I spoke to at PracticeHit highly recommended it, but upon further review I couldn't see enough about it on the website to know how valuable an extra aid it would be.

Any feedback?
 

FuriousYellow

Professional
I had a Practice Hit a couple of years ago when I first started playing. The ring that surrounds the ball broke within a few months. Unfortunately, I don't recall there being a money-back guarantee at that time.
 

varuscelli

Professional
FuriousYellow said:
I had a Practice Hit a couple of years ago when I first started playing. The ring that surrounds the ball broke within a few months. Unfortunately, I don't recall there being a money-back guarantee at that time.

Thanks for the feedback!

Fortunately, my target player is only 5 years old (or will be later this month), so I'm hoping the wear-and-tear factor is not quite as great as with someone older/stronger.
 

SpinItIn

New User
I bought a PracticeHit last year for my daughter, who had just started taking lessons (she was six at the time). She enjoyed using it but did manage to break the ball holding ring in a fairly short time. She's no bruiser, just your average skinny six year old, but mishits do put a fair amount of load on the ball/rod. The thing can take a pretty fair beating until they get the timing down. HTH.

BTW the PracticeHit is a much better (and cheaper) training aid than the Hit-A-Way, at least when used for tennis. The Hit-A-Way might work OK for baseball or softball where the ball is heavier, but with the relatively lighter tennis ball that thing is a tangling abomination. If anyone is in the market for one of these contraptions I have one collecting dust in the corner of my garage - will trade for a bucket of old balls or a used Tournagrip ;)
 

Nextman916

Professional
That picture with the boy hitting inside near the TV makes me nervous......just because the machine doesnt require large space still doesnt mean he should play in the living room!!!!!
 

varuscelli

Professional
Nextman916 said:
That picture with the boy hitting inside near the TV makes me nervous......just because the machine doesnt require large space still doesnt mean he should play in the living room!!!!!

Funny...I thought we could set her up with it in the half bathroom up front. :(

Yeah, I'm not really sure about the "in the study" setup either (especially if she decides to have her friends over for a few swings).
 

varuscelli

Professional
SpinItIn said:
I bought a PracticeHit last year for my daughter, who had just started taking lessons (she was six at the time). She enjoyed using it but did manage to break the ball holding ring in a fairly short time.

Thanks for the warning.

So is replacement of the entire shaft what's necessary if that ball holding ring breaks?

Or does there seem to be a way to replace the ball holding ring itself?
 

SpinItIn

New User
varuscelli said:
So is replacement of the entire shaft what's necessary if that ball holding ring breaks?

I believe you have to purchase the "Shaft Assembly" replacement part, which costs $18-30 depending on which model you need.
 

varuscelli

Professional
SpinItIn said:
I believe you have to purchase the "Shaft Assembly" replacement part, which costs $18-30 depending on which model you need.

Yeah, that's what I thought after looking over the available replacement parts.

Too bad. I can't really make an fair comment on its design since I've never seen the device first hand. But, it seems like the "ball ring" replacement issue represents a fairly serious design flaw in that you have to replace such a major part of the device with failure of a smaller part of the device. (If, indeed, the ball ring is a common failure point.) Seems like good design should accommodate replacement of the ring itself without full replacement of the shaft. :confused:

But like I said, since I haven't actually seen how it's designed, my comments might not be fair since I don't really know the specifics of the design.

Still getting one for my daughter, though. Overall, I really do like the concept.
 

Tennismastery

Professional
We have used six of the PracticeHits in many clinics and have broken a few of the ball rings over the two years of use. While the device can be hit with hard, fast strokes, it is not intended to be used for all-out hitting. It is a great tool to use for stroke development and refinement, for starting youngsters out early in developing good swing and footwork patterns, and it is very helpful for players working on a new groundstroke...such as a two handed backhand from a one, or vice versa.

Because the ball moves on the shaft back and forth, the player can focus on hitting something solid and moving, yet not have the factor of the ball traveling somewhere...which is important if you are indeed working on swing mechanics and not targeting. (Which is important AFTER your swing pattern and technique has been developed...because players will change the stroke in an attempt to steer the ball somewhere.)

So, if you hit with easy strokes and not try to pound the ball over and over, your PracticeHit should last a long time.
 

varuscelli

Professional
Tennismastery said:
So, if you hit with easy strokes and not try to pound the ball over and over, your PracticeHit should last a long time.

Yeah, for my almost-5-year-old daughter, I can't help but feel the PracticeHit will play its envisioned part as a stepping stone to developing strokes/technique and actually hitting a "free moving" ball at some point. I still have a hard time envisioning her pounding the thing to death. ;)

But then again, SpinItIn seemed to have a daughter capable of doing just that at 6 years old.

I'm sure mileage varies on these things (with lots of factors involved). Ours has already been ordered, so we'll see how it works out. Actually, if my daughter's interested enough to beat the thing to death, I'll see that as a good thing. :)
 
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