Tennis drills at home for 10 year olds

At a glance

At 10

19 tennis drills the app opens for a 10 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 30 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 45 minutes for a 10 year old.

How often

At most 4 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 10 hours for a 10 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: racket (12 of the 19 drills), soft balls (7), tennis ball (3), wall (3), jump rope (1), mirror or window (1), net or rope (1), paper (1). 7 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

19 at-home drills

Tennis drills for 10 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for a 10 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

backhand

Backhand

• Shadow Backhand SwingsAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Towel Backhand ShadowAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Backhand Wall RallyAges 7 and up · 12 min

net play

Net Play

• Backhand Volley CatchAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Forehand Volley CatchAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Ready Position CatchesAges 7 and up · 6 min

serve

Serve

• Trophy Pose and TossAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Trophy Pose HoldsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Overarm Toss to ServeAges 7 and up · 8 min

footwork

Footwork

• Jump Rope EnduranceAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Ready Position and HopsAges 7 and up · 6 min

forehand

Forehand

• Forehand Wall RallyAges 7 and up · 12 min
• Toss, Catch, Then SwingAges 7 and up · 8 min

A 29-minute session

A home tennis session for a 10 year old

A warm-up, 2 drills and a cool-down, 29 minutes in all. Do it up to 4 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Tennis Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for tennis players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then tennis moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2. 2Parent-Toss BackhandsTurn first, then swing.10 min
3. 3Shadow Backhand SwingsSlow and smooth.6 min
4. 4Tennis Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for tennis players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and wrists, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 10

What changes in tennis training at 10

The app opens developing (level 2) drills at 10.

The app opens the same 19 at-home drills at 10 as at 9; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 10 hours for a 10 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting tennis into a week at 10

At 10 the limit is 10 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 4 sessions of 30 minutes is 2 hours, which leaves 8 for team practice and games. Even 4 days at the app's longest, 45 minutes, is 3 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers