Tip of the Week (Coach DC): 3 Ways to Improve Your 5 year old's Co-ordination Off-court February 07 2017, 33 Comments

It is always good to continually help develop your child's co-ordination outside of his or her tennis lessons.

Here are my top 3 suggestions to do so. Note that you can even practice these indoors!

1) Balloons

That's right! Buy some balloons and challenge your child to keep them up in the air, using any body part they like (eg: hands, head, feet, elbows).

Count how many taps/hits your child can do without the balloon touching the ground.

 

2) Racquet and Balloons

Similar to Tip 1, add in the racquet and see if your child can keep the balloon up. Allowing them to use different body parts and the racquet is a fantastic way to build co-ordination skills.

Challenge them to balance on one foot and keep the balloon up. This will help to develop your child's balance, a vital skill for hitting those forehands and backhands.

 

3) Hopping

Probably one of the must under-practiced skills is the ability to hop, land and balance. This is a very important motor skill for your child.

Challenge them to hop forwards and backwards on each foot.

CAUTION! Make sure you stand behind them to catch their fall when they hop backwards, especially if their balancing skill isn't quite there yet. 

Hopping backwards is great practice for pushing off and using the ankle to accelerate, useful for eventual tennis shots. Hopping also helps develop the motion required for split stepping during rallying.

Hope you can give these ideas a try and be sure to let our tennis coaches know how you get on!