Teaching Footwork to Kids

Maas

New User
I may do some volunteer coaching of a middle school tennis team. I've seen them practice a few times, and their general level is fairly low. A few have decent forehands, but generally, they need some serious coaching, and I may step in and run some structured drills with them, after instructing them on grips, swing, etc.

One thing I have noticed is that their footwork is atrocious, even the ones that have decent strokes. I don't want to sound like the old guy, but I don't remember my gen being so clumsy in moving to the ball (probably selective memory). Many move flat-footed, with no movement off the ball of their feet.

How do I go about teaching them footwork? Does anyone know of any resources, videos, etc. that could help me coach these kids? Especially regarding flat-footed movement, how do I correct that? Do I need to go back to the very very basics, and teach them how to sprint on the balls of their feet, and then bounce on the balls of their feet?
 

nyta2

Legend
imo bailey is the most comprehensive list of footwork patterns used...
but also imo, for beginners, i think teaching a handful of basic footwork patterns is enough (paraphrasing bailey):
* ready steps
* split
* turn out
* shuffle (to the contact, away from contact (body shot))
* gravity step + cross over
* hop step (eg. approach shots)
for stances, i simplify by thinking,... for all shots, align my back foot behind the ball (semi/open stance) , and if time, step forward (neutral)
more adv kids will need the situational footwork, and can teach that as a one off session (ie. back foot hop, back foot pivot - for deep balls, step down for ros & power shots, etc... )

part of developing my daughters footwork (at 16), we jump roped daily as part of warmup... she started as someon that could barely hop 2x in a row (partly because she was jumping flat footed), to now doing: alternating skips, "runnign skips", single leg, cross overs, double unders, etc... definitely builds the feeling of the time of how/why split & go facilitates faster movmeent (guessing related to taking advantage of the stretch shortening cycle)
 
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Maas

New User
imo bailey is the most comprehensive list of footwork patterns used...
but also imo, for beginners, i think teaching a handful of basic footwork patterns is enough (paraphrasing bailey):
* ready steps
* split
* turn out
* shuffle (to the contact, away from contact (body shot))
* gravity step + cross over
* hop step (eg. approach shots)
for stances, i simplify by thinking,... for all shots, align my back foot behind the ball (semi/open stance) , and if time, step forward (neutral)
more adv kids will need the situational footwork, and can teach that as a one off session (ie. back foot hop, back foot pivot - for deep balls, step down for ros & power shots, etc... )

part of developing my daughters footwork (at 16), we jump roped daily as part of warmup... she started as someon that could barely hop 2x in a row (partly because she was jumping flat footed), to now doing: skips, single leg, cross overs, double unders, etc... definitely builds the feeling of the time of how/why split & go facilitates faster movmeent (guessing related to taking advantage of the stretch shortening cycle)
Fantastic reply! Thank you.

I have never heard of Bailey, but will check him out. Jump roping is a great idea -- almost impossible to jump rope flat footed.

Thanks again.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
They should learn how to move around, primarily staying on the balls of their feet -- forward, side shuffles & moving backward. They should avoid moving in reverse on their heels.

Reach them how to skip rope properly. Again, on the toes & balls of the feet. They do not need to jump high. Many novice rope skipper jump a lot higher than necessary.

Squat jumps. They should land the squat jump on the front part of the feet -- not flat-footed.

Skater hop drill. This can be done just left to right as shown here (below). An alternate version is to move forward as you move Left Right Left Right ... You can zigzag forward across the alley

 
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SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Fantastic reply! Thank you.

I have never heard of Bailey, but will check him out. Jump roping is a great idea -- almost impossible to jump rope flat footed.

Thanks again.
Also check out Bailey's Blast Dance. But a lot of the Bailey stuff is fairly advanced footwork. Start off with rope skipping and some of the other easy stuff I suggested above. For now, take a look at the movement at the start of the Blast Dance. The "Ready Steps" shown in the first 10 seconds. Save most of the rest for later.

 
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nyta2

Legend
Fantastic reply! Thank you.

I have never heard of Bailey, but will check him out. Jump roping is a great idea -- almost impossible to jump rope flat footed.

Thanks again.
forgot to mention, as part of the warmup we also used to do various footwork patterns & stances with a 4lb mediball, to get the feel of why the pattern is important to using your full body (espeically lower) to be able to throw the mediball (like a swing) - vs. just using the arms to throw
 

badmice2

Professional
I may do some volunteer coaching of a middle school tennis team. I've seen them practice a few times, and their general level is fairly low. A few have decent forehands, but generally, they need some serious coaching, and I may step in and run some structured drills with them, after instructing them on grips, swing, etc.

One thing I have noticed is that their footwork is atrocious, even the ones that have decent strokes. I don't want to sound like the old guy, but I don't remember my gen being so clumsy in moving to the ball (probably selective memory). Many move flat-footed, with no movement off the ball of their feet.

How do I go about teaching them footwork? Does anyone know of any resources, videos, etc. that could help me coach these kids? Especially regarding flat-footed movement, how do I correct that? Do I need to go back to the very very basics, and teach them how to sprint on the balls of their feet, and then bounce on the balls of their feet?
Are you trying to be more athletic with movement or are you looking for footwork specifics in getting to the ball? Most of the post are about footwork in terms of conditioning and building muscle memory. The “how to move to the ball” is a whole separate training.
 

Bagumbawalla

Talk Tennis Guru
One thing I notice with most beginners (including adults) is the tendency to never hit the ball the same way twice and
from whatever position they happen to be in at the time.

I would use a "reverse engineering" approach.
1. Start By showing them the correct stroke and stance for hitting the ball (as much as possible) the same way every time.
2. Toss them a ball, to forehand or backhand, so that they need to take just one step, left or right to be in position to hit their "ideal" stroke'
3. Gradually, in increments, move the ball around requiring two steps, and so on- always stressing the idea of striving for that ideal position, ideal stroke.
 

Maas

New User
Are you trying to be more athletic with movement or are you looking for footwork specifics in getting to the ball? Most of the post are about footwork in terms of conditioning and building muscle memory. The “how to move to the ball” is a whole separate training.
I would be trying to teach the kids to efficiently move to the ball and set up for a shot. It seems that the recommendations posted are speaking to moving to the ball, and not conditioning. What exercises or drills do you have in mind for "how to move to the ball"?
 

Maas

New User
One thing I notice with most beginners (including adults) is the tendency to never hit the ball the same way twice and
from whatever position they happen to be in at the time.

I would use a "reverse engineering" approach.
1. Start By showing them the correct stroke and stance for hitting the ball (as much as possible) the same way every time.
2. Toss them a ball, to forehand or backhand, so that they need to take just one step, left or right to be in position to hit their "ideal" stroke'
3. Gradually, in increments, move the ball around requiring two steps, and so on- always stressing the idea of striving for that ideal position, ideal stroke.

Good idea, but some/many of the kids would just duckwalk those 2+ steps toward their setup. They literally are not moving on the balls of their feet. They try to run directly through a shot, without stopping and setting up. These are very basic things, so fundamental that many of us don't even see them as fundamentals.
 

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
I would be trying to teach the kids to efficiently move to the ball and set up for a shot. It seems that the recommendations posted are speaking to moving to the ball, and not conditioning. What exercises or drills do you have in mind for "how to move to the ball"?
@badmice2

Some of the suggestions should help both with conditioning and with getting students to be less static and less flat-footed with their movement.

Rope skipping, sk8r hops, squat jumps, etc should reinforce moving on the balls of the feet. (Should also help with avoiding lazy footwork).
 
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badmice2

Professional
I would be trying to teach the kids to efficiently move to the ball and set up for a shot. It seems that the recommendations posted are speaking to moving to the ball, and not conditioning. What exercises or drills do you have in mind for "how to move to the ball"?
Multi steps approach.

The kids will need to learn to execute their strokes from the stances - open, semi open, and close. They need to learn to stay balanced doing so.

In parallel they need to learn to move into their stances through various foot pattern. This is where coaches will use medicine ball often.

This is an example of pattern work:


For drills like this, get the kids waiting to shadow swing to build muscle memory. In doing footwork, place importance with footwork intensity, less ball going in. Make it about good ball contact through balanced stance than calling them lazy when they hit the ball out.

You must incorporate movement into hitting stance in order for the drills to be effective. You can start by teaching them separately, and merge into a theme over time. The entire approach should be a journey, not a process.
 
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johnmccabe

Hall of Fame
I would be trying to teach the kids to efficiently move to the ball and set up for a shot. It seems that the recommendations posted are speaking to moving to the ball, and not conditioning. What exercises or drills do you have in mind for "how to move to the ball"?
To me, there are three sets of basic patterns. Return of serves. Baseline 8 directions to hit groundstrokes, including open/close stance. Approach, volley, overhead.
 
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