It’s A Racquet: Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis

Top 10 sports for kids to play
​Number 9 - Racquet Sports

 Tennis is the high-profile racquet sport, but not necessarily the one played by everyone during their holidays or lunch breaks at work or school. It is the big names, the larger-than-life tournaments and the amount of money and sponsorships on the professional circuit which holds the appeal of many. Australia’s long list of male and female champions have provided role models for generations of children.
Current world No. 1 Ash Barty is chasing her dream, to be as great as “the Gong”, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, winner of Wimbledon half a century ago. Female tennis has been dominated by the Williams sisters for 20 years, the males by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Whilst these international level champions make it look easy, tennis can be a very challenging sport to learn. 

​What Makes Racquet Sports Difficult to Master?

The physics or biomechanics of racquet sports means young children struggle to find easy success. Hitting a ball with a racquet that extends a child’s arm by more than half a metre requires grip control, advanced hand-eye tracking and balance. As in many sports the real difficulty for children is the building of a solid foundation to give stability to the shoulder, arm and wrist when swinging the racquet.
If children are not taught the agility to move into position early and quickly, and even how to place their feet and hips they will to strike the ball whilst it is moving. When kids don’t find success quickly, psychology takes over, and they feel like a failure or embarrassed before their peers.
Success comes by adding a highly skilled coach or passionate teacher. One who has been taught and has seen how and why children find tennis difficult. Some of the key steps in the early learning phase is to remove ‘variables’. Those things that complicate things more than they need to.

1. Teach technique without a ball – air swings
2. Fun minor games to teach racquet safety
3. Start with hitting a stationary ball
4. Slow consistent ball tosses by a partner
5. Using a ball machine that tosses the same speed, direction and location
6. Minor games that allow students to not take their skills too seriously at first
7. Teach each individual stroke: forehand, backhand, lob, serve, etc.
8. Add opponents when both are successful more that 80% of the time
9. Revisit skills that require further development
10. Have children play against higher skilled players or mentors

​How It will Benefit Your Child

​The sport requires the player to be nimble-footed and a quick thinker. It encourages kids to strategize their moves, learn proper techniques, develop arm strength, and accuracy. It also helps in building muscle strength and improving cardiovascular fitness.

Continued - Badminton or Table Tennis