Tennis Coaching and The Art of OrganisIng Your Tennis Lesson Court

THE ART OF COURT ORGANISATION
How you organise the students on your court is one of the tennis coaches key responsibilities. Class ratios are a tricky issue, small enough that each student gets enough attention; but big enough to keep the tennis clubs economy running. Ultimately a well organised coach can handle 6 8 students on a court and more children in one place at one time can create more energy and interaction. This ratio will have to be assessed as players get older, bigger and more skilful where 4 players per court may be more appropriate. The first thing to remember when organising a class is plan, plan, plan. Have all the equipment and balls you need set up well before your lesson. Organise this equipment before you start the lesson and place markers and cones so that students know where they should start an activity or wait for their turn. Use these markers and equipment consistently through your session and term so students are familiar with what equipment means what. Have an anchor, where students will gather when the coach calls this could be the baseline or doubles alley. The second thing to remember is be flexible. Handling different numbers of kids and different standards of player requires some real coaching skill. Flexibility means a coach can adapt for even or odd numbered classes; can handle a situation where some players are more skilful than others or deal with students coming into a lesson late. Some more ideas on how to handle these situations is included in the next section. Formations Form your class into short lines, stations or pairs no long lines. The aim of formations is to accommodate up to six players on the court and make sure they have maximum participation and repetitions of the skill being practised.
Avoid long straight lines wherever possible.
This is better but 3rd in line is still a long way back.
This is better again, the players down the other end can be practising their reception skills
Where ever you can make the line shorter, research shows us that tennis students hate:1. Being yelled at across the net 2. Shadow swinging and 3. WAITING IN LINES
Younger students can work in pairs across the net in many activities.
1 pair might complete a skill or physical circuit [ie. skipping] while waiting for their turn.
2 on 1 training can be a great physical workout swap after each shot or rally.
When setting up your court safety is always of the highest importance. Make sure each student has their own space [court]. Waiting players need to be a safe distance from hitting players and hitting lanes can be established so players dont wander into someone elses swinging racquet. If your class has uneven numbers the coach can step in where pairs are required and rotation systems set up so all players get maximum opportunity and participation. Use similar formations from drill to drill; and from session to session so your players become familiar with them. Student Feeding One way to maximise participation and improve your court organisation is to have the students feed. Instead of the coach having to start each rally and all players competing for the one ball 2 or more rallies can be going on in a set court area. The coach can then compass coach, while their students rally and complete activities. You may need to invest in some time teaching the drop feed, it is a skill, and the sooner its mastered the more effective your lesson will be. For any class with 6 students in playing on two half courts with student feeding is virtually essential. Student feeding may be varied, but this variation is good practice for those crucial reception skills so dont worry too much if the feeding isnt perfect to start with.
Rotations Once you have established structured formations rotations are critical to ensure everyone on court gets equal hitting time. Rotations can occur after: a set time [2 mins] a set number of repetitions [10 shots] after every rally or point or based on score [1st to 7]
These rotations are easily tracked and ensure consistency for each student.
Small circle rotation
Big circle rotation
Uneven numbers can be rotated this way.
Make rotations quick if players are waiting off court or set them a meaningful activity like a physical circuit if they are spending time on the side lines. Like formations use the same rotations from drill to drill and session to session to promote familiarity your lesson will run itself once the students are familiar with your formations and rotations. All you have to do then is implement the drills and COACH. A great way to organise your drill is to take a short amount of time to demonstrate how the drill works before you start. If you have demonstrated well you will not have to interrupt the drill and risk losing students concentration. Remember not to let your demonstration go on too long and use simple language and instructions kids are very visual learners and improve by seeing and doing...not listening. This demonstration should include how the students will rotate during it.
Different Standards Handling students of different experience and skill needs both organisation and diplomacy. Without being obvious the better players can work with each other on skills that are being progressed quickly while the weaker players spend more time working together at the fundamentals. If for instance you have a class of six, sort the students into 2 strongest, 2 medium and 2 weakest. Perform your activities in two groups, with the medium players dividing their time between the strongest and weakest groups, this keeps everyone happy. Finish the lesson with a team game where the strongest and weakest get to play together. In most cases, especially with younger groups there should not need to be a change in the class. Being with friends is very important and younger children are less aware of the standard of others [they are more concerned with themselves]. As students become older and more aware squads are divided up with more concern given to level and it is usually the players who are competing in challenges or playing 2+ times a week who will find themselves in the strongest classes.
Key Points Class ratios must balance economics and student coach attention. Plan Plan Plan [equipment organised before lesson] Have a consistent anchor or gathering point at baseline or doubles alley Be flexible, handling uneven numbers or students of different standards takes coaching skill Create formations which minimise the waiting time Make rotations and formations consistent across drills and sessions Maximise participation by having the students feed to each other Demonstrate at the start of a drill [including how rotations will work] Have strategies to handle different standards within your group.

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THE ART OF COURT ORGANISATION

Avoid long straight lines wherever possible.

This is better but 3rd in line is still a long way back.

Small circle rotation

Big circle rotation

Uneven numbers can be rotated this way.

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