Any parent focused on tennis wants their child to do well. But sometimes, the standard drills don’t cut it. If you’re hoping to increase your practice time but are hitting a wall in regards to how to fill that time, here are three tennis drills you might not have thought about before- but are guaranteed to be a hit with your child.

Stroke Technique Ideas

A great drill to build your child’s stroke technique is called Catch Me If You Can. To play, you and your child stand at opposite service lines- one of you holding a racquet, and the other with a tennis ball. The person with the ball throws it to the person with the racquet, and the person with the racquet must hit the ball back over the net. The person without the racquet must try to catch the ball in their hand before it hits the ground. When they catch the ball, both run to the net and exchange tools- so the person with the racquet gets the ball, and the person with the ball gets the racquet. This is an easy drill for beginners, and can be repeated as necessary.

Single Serve

If your child is having trouble with their serving skills, take the pressure up a notch. In this drill, each participant only has one chance to serve on their turn. A shorter match, typically about three or four games, is great for this, because it can show your child both the pressure of a match and emphasize the point of making a good serve the first time around.

Doubles Alley

This drill is meant for more advanced students, but that doesn’t mean beginners can’t try it! In Doubles Alley, both players stand in the doubles alley– and cannot hit outside of it. With these constraints, play a simple, down-the-line game, and when that’s complete, you can swap sides of the net. For a more difficult version, try standing across the court from one another- with one player in the top left alley, and the other in the bottom right.

Practice, Practice, Practice

As always, though, the only thing that is surefire to make your child better at tennis is to practice. The more drills and practices you run, the better your child will become at tennis. And that’s a great thing to be!