Tennis drills at home for 8 year olds

An 8 year old can practice backhand, net play and serve at home with 19 tennis drills picked for the age. Keep a session to about 25 minutes, up to 3 days a week, with rest days between. Why: 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).

A parent's page for an 8 year old: the drills that work at home, one session to follow, what changes this year and how much is healthy. Free, no account.

By Coach Evan Waechtler Youth coach (U11, Cache Valley, Utah) and founder of SSTracker Updated November 5, 2026

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A parent's page. Free to read; no card to start; running a team is always free.

At a glance

At 8: 19 tennis drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.
How long: One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.
How often: At most 3 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 8 hours for an 8 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 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 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

net play

Net Play

serve

Serve

footwork

Footwork

forehand

Forehand

A 23-minute session

A home tennis session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 23 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

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
2Jump Rope EnduranceLight bounce on the balls of your feet.10 min
3Tennis 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 8

What changes in tennis training at 8

The app opens the same 19 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; 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 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting tennis into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 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

What tennis drills can an 8 year old do at home?

19 drills the app opens at 8 work at home. A few to start with: Shadow Backhand Swings, Towel Backhand Shadow and Backhand Wall Rally. 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.

How long should an 8 year old practice tennis at home?

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old. At most 3 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 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What do you need to practice tennis at home at 8?

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.

What changes in tennis training at 8?

The app opens the same 19 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.