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Tennis 24/7 Coach Academy Underarm Server Drill

The Underarm Server Drill is a flexible drill that can be done with just 2 players on court or easily scaled up to have many children cooperating on court without needing a coach to feed the ball. The variations keep it engaging as player’s work on their skills.

What COACHES, PLAYERS and PARENTS should know about this drill

This is a great activity for so many different reasons:

  • We would recommend that players become familiar with serving overarm as soon as possible, but that’s not easy and will take time. In the meantime, and to ensure that the players get a rally after the serve, serving underarm can often be an easier first step
  • It’s a really good cooperative activity where the kids can work together on serve and return
  • Doing this activity is also great for learning how to feed like a coach, which means that kids can cooperate in activities together without needing the coach to feed for them. You might also try feeding by letting the ball bounce before you hit it, although this isn’t allowed in the rules of tennis for a serve
  • Many coaches like to let kids serve underarm for the second serve. That’s OK but as an alternative, try getting kids to put the racket in the non-dominant hand and then throw the ball overarm for the second serve. That way they get to practise more of the overarm action associated with the overarm serve

VARIATIONS of the Underarm Server Drill for coaches, players & parents

  • It can be a great competitive activity where pairs work together in competition against other pairs:
    • Have both players serving underarm and catching like in the video. Count how many serve and catch combinations a pair can do in 2 minutes, or which pair can be the first to do 10 serve and catch combinations
    • Which pair can achieve the most serve-return-third short-catch combinations in 2 minutes, or
    • Which pair can achieve the first pair to do 10 serve-return-third short-catch combinations
  • The video shows the players serving into the service box, but to challenge the players more, divide the service box into two, so that the serve has to serve to the forehand or the backhand side
  • Put some hoops on the court, and try to serve the ball into different hoops. That will really help your accuracy
  • This is a great activity to do at home. Try this activity over a bamboo cane or a skipping rope if you don’t have a net at home.
  • Do the same progressions with an overarm serve, then you really are doing well!
  • Instead of playing a groundstroke for the third shot, why not play a volley instead. Then you will be combining this drill with our recent Up and Volley Drill.

Tennis(24/7)’s TOP TIPS for the Underarm Server Drill

The server:

  • Stand a little sideways and take your time when serving
  • Think about where you are going to aim the serve and why
  • Don’t try to hit too hard. It’s hard to win the point from the serve
  • Get ready for the return as soon as you have hit the serve. The ball will come back and you need to be ready
  • Try to serve wide and then hit your groundstroke to the other direction, just like the pros

The returner:

  • Be ready. The serve is coming!
  • Be ready to play a forehand or a backhand. The server may try to serve to your backhand if they know it’s the weaker shot
  • Make sure you get the serve back. Don’t give away free points

More Drills on Tennis(24/7)

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Other Activities Players Can Practise After Lessons

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Top 5 Power Keywords (Video)

Tennis 24/7 Kid's Club: Top 5 Power Keywords

Do you like the power and simplicity of keywords in your coaching? So do we! Repeating a keyword can be a very effective way to force yourself to focus on a change that you want to make. It’s therefore a great tool to use as a part of your coaching when you need to remember a new technique.

Top 5 Keywords

Power Keyword: Accelerate

Keyword #1; ACCELERATE

Game situation: Baseline game
Keeps your player focussed on: Accelerating through the ball quickly at contact and keeping the body drawing speed and power from the body’s rotation and anchor to the ground.
Use it: As the ball comes towards the player, have them say “ACCELERATE!” as they go through the stroke and hit the ball. Other words like “RIP” could also work

Power Keyword: Breathe

Keyword #2; BREATHE

Game situation: Baseline game
Keeps your player focussed on: continuing to breathe!
Use it: Say a nice, long, “BREATHE…” as the player makes contact and swings through the ball.

Power Keyword: Strings to Target

Keyword #3; STRINGS TO TARGET

Game situation: Baseline game; approaching the net
Keeps your player focussed on: a straight swing path through the contact point
Use it: Say “STRINGS TO TARGET” as the player makes contact and swings through the ball.

Power Keyword: Drive

Keyword #4; DRIVE

Game situation: Serve
Keeps your player focussed on: activating their legs during the serve
Use it: As the player tosses the ball, use the word DRIVE to push up, off the ground, and power through the ball.

Power Keyword: Extend

Keyword #5; EXTEND

Game situation: Serve
Keeps your player focused on: maintaining the shoulder tilt through the tick position on the serve
Use it: Say “EXTEND” so the player keeps the tossing arm high during the tick position.

Other articles and clips with quick fixes

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Updated from our article originally published on: Dec 17, 2016

How to Train Young Talented Tennis Players

Tennis 24/7 Kid's Club: How to Train Young Talented Tennis Players

In addition to coaching a lot of young talented tennis players, i2c run a lot of junior tournaments. So we regularly talk to a lot of parents who are not just confused but frustrated by the advice they receive about their child’s tennis. We are therefore delighted to be able to share David Mullin’s response to a parent letter regarding the tournaments that their talented child was being recommended to enter. The article was recently published at https://www.tennisconsult.com/how-to-train-young-talented-tennis-players/ and is reproduced on Tennis(24/7) with permission.

David Mullins represented Ireland in Davis Cup from 1999-2004 and worked as a College coach in the US, most recently at the University of Oklahoma. Dave can be contacted at www.davemullinstennis.com

David’s key points for parents of talented tennis players

  • At 8 years old a child’s personal development is more important than winning tennis tournaments
  • Sometimes coaches forget that life is more than just tennis
  • Goals for someone of this child’s age should mostly be centred around his technical development and his enjoyment of training and competition
  • The ITF recommends that junior players maintain a 2:1 win/loss ratio. So, when choosing tournaments to enter think about where your child will get competitive matches that will allow them to maintain this 2:1 ratio. Essentially, tournaments are “right” if they maintain that win/loss ratio.

How to Train Young Talented Tennis Players

I received this letter from a concerned tennis parent:

My son is 8-year-old. He plays tennis at an academy 4 times a week. The coaches are young and ambitious and the academy exists for about 3-4 years. My son started playing tournaments with 7y and started to win quite quickly. Everything went quite fast, before his 8th birthday he was given an adult racket (265 gr) and soon afterwards they changed from green to yellow balls.

In February he was advised to play U12 tournaments. First, he was able to win the first match but since spring he‘s loosing only, no matter who he is playing against. There is no following-up after the matches. I tried to discuss but was told that it‘s my fault he‘s loosing due to the fact, that I’ve chosen the wrong tournaments. He now started again after the summer break (4 weeks) and played another U12 tournament chosen by one of the coaches but the result (a loss) was the same). They advise now to keep on playing tournaments (the more the better) but to go back to U10. Since may he played tournaments 2-3 weekends a month (with no effect on his performance in my opinion).

Now they want to go on with this, saying that at some point he will start to win again. My son is a fighter and always wants to do everything (also in school) as good as possible. He‘s disappointed about his results in tennis but doesn’t want to show it. He‘s working hard. I fear, that the coaches do not know what they are really doing and that my child loses his self-esteem totally. Can you pls help?! The target from the academy for my son is to play top 5 in his age group in Switzerland. What would you suggest in this situation?

I know that many parents who have young talented tennis players more or less ask the same questions. So, I asked our tennis expert David Mullins to give his advice on the topic.

It sounds like your son has been on quite a “tennis journey” already and there is a lot going on. Due to your child’s talent and rapid improvement, it is possible the coaches have maybe lost track of the fact that your son is only 8 years old. I have no doubt they want what is best for his tennis development but ultimately his personal development is far more important and sometimes coaches forget that life is more than just tennis.

Having a target to be top 5 in Switzerland for his age group appears to be a very unnecessary goal for a player so young. The goals for someone his age should mostly be centred around his technical development and his enjoyment of training and competition. It appears that it has all become very serious very quickly. If he sticks with the sport there will be plenty of time for all that serious stuff!

In terms of what competition to play it doesn’t matter so much the age category but it does matter how many competitive matches he plays (meaning the final result is in doubt). If he is winning too easily or losing too easily then he may not be seeing many of the benefits that competition offers. The ITF recommends that junior players participate in about 100 competitive matches per year, and that the player maintains a 2:1 win/loss ratio.

So when entering him in tournaments, think about where he will get competitive matches that will allow him to maintain this 2:1 ratio. He also does not need to be playing 100 matches at his age, maybe shoot for 50. If he is losing a lot then he may start to compromise his technique and look for short cuts to win which will have longer-term implications.

Don’t worry about top 5 rankings or any other targets such as these, they are quite irrelevant at this point in his development. It sounds like he loves to play the sport and that is where the emphasis should be, not on some arbitrary number. If his ratio is backwards right now, 1 win for every 2 losses, then you need to find him so lower level tournaments where he can get this moving in the right direction as long as he is enjoying competition. If he is not enjoying it then take a break and come back to it later in the year, I assure you that there is no rush, and that it is much better to take a long-term view of these things rather than looking for a quick fix.

Thanks for the question, I hope it was helpful, if you need any further input you can just email me at davemullinstennis@gmail.com and I will do my best to help.

Related articles on Tennis(24/7)

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How to Develop Awareness of Space and Angles (video)

How to Develop Awareness of Space and Angles

This short clip (filmed live in Finland) shows how we are developing simple awareness of space and the ability to send the ball away from the opponent at orange and early red level.

Our observation is that in general, children spend too much time spent hitting balls down the middle of the court, usually with the forehand. This usually starts with a feed from the middle. There is also too much emphasis on achieving rallies of a certain number for no real reason. As a result, there is no requirement for the players to move because the ball is not requiring them to move. 

The solution is to make courts short and wide to reduce the need for speed and to create angles and space.

Activity: Developing Awareness of Space and Angles

  1. Never start from the middle as the server or returner; pick 4 spots on each baseline.
  2. The returner chooses where to stand to return, and then the server chooses where to serve from.
  3. Neither player can start from the same spot for 2 consecutive points.

Watch the clip to see the activity in action!

Outcome

1. Even at a very young age, players will be looking for the empty space on the court.
2. Players have to move so the whole stroke process is challenged – but they learn early on to deal with that.
3. Players have to direct the ball in different directions. Early development of path, angle and speed
4. Players have to think. You can see at this age that decision making doesn’t come quickly or easily.

The added bonus is that tennis is much more fun because when it is dynamic!

4 tips for building a positive relationship with tennis parents

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Tennis 24/7 Coach Academy: 4 Tips for Building a Positive Relationship With Tennis Parents

4 Tips for Building a Positive Relationship With Tennis Parents

Mark Tennant explains 4 tips that you can easily put in place to build a positive relationship with tennis parents.

Last week a coach in Italy asked us to prepare a short video on building strong working relationships with tennis parents. We’re really passionate about this topic and we’ve done several articles related to it (links below), so we got right on it.

So, this video was prepared for Marco Magro at http://www.giocareatennis.it and we’re sharing it with our members. As an added bonus, we’ve created a planner to help you record how well you score on each tip and what you can do to improve to a 10/10. Get the planner now.

Here are 4 tips from Mark Tennant that you can think about and put in place for the future.

Key Take-aways for Coaches

Remember that parents are customers – There’s no business in the world that can survive without customers. Tennis parents are our customers and we must act is a professional way.

Let parents know how their children are progressing – Many tennis parents don’t know too much about tennis but, parents love to know how their kids are getting on. You can really help parents out by providing them with reports.

Build connections and relationships with parents – Any successful business needs to build a relationship with customers. Welcome parents and try to make yourself available to speak with them. Perhaps a more formal parents evening or set up one-to-one chats. Find a way that works for you and works for parents.

Educate parents and children with the criteria that is needed to progress to the next level – Junior tennis is broken up into different stages. In the UK that’s red ball, then orange ball, then green – but that doesn’t correspond completely to the age of children. Put in place some criteria to help children and parents understand what they need to achieve to progress to the next level. Understanding this will help to reduce parents frustration because they will understand what their children need to do.

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