MEMBER’S CONTENT Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

Navigating your way through a lesson can be tricky when you are new to coaching. To help new and less experienced coaches, we’ve produced this Standard Lesson Structure Checklist to ensure that you stay on track during your lessons, and to ensure that lessons link from week to week.

The Standard Lesson Structure Checklist has been used and road-tested in our international programmes.

Download the checklist: [download id=”3116″]

Guide to using the Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

My notes on each point in the checklist are below. You can also download the guide: [download id=”3145″]

The coach prepares the court before the players arrive

Have the court set up with all equipment ready

The coach is on the court ready to welcome the kids as they arrive

Be ready to meet the players and parents as they arrive. Never arrive after the players

The coach introduces the theme for the lesson

Professional coaches have schemes of work where they know the theme and exactly what they are aiming to achieve in every lesson

The coach starts the lesson with a dynamic warm up

Tennis is a dynamic sport; prepare them accordingly. Avoid just a run round the court, but develop movement and activities for different parts of the body

The coach delivers high quality activity focussing on developing ABCS

Develop the agility, balance, coordination and speed skills needed for tennis

The coach completes a racket warm up

If they can play, warm up all strokes, focussing on good movement and recovery, loose strokes and good contact points

The coach plays a competitive rally game to observe and analyse the players

It’s a good idea to get competitive at the very start, so you can observe them tactically, technically, physically and mentally

The coach introduces and demonstrates the technical and tactical teaching point

Once you’ve decided on the main teaching points for the lesson, demo, demo, demo. It’s your strongest form of communication!

The coach ensures appropriate feeding for the lesson objective

Feed in a an appropriate way relevant to the game situation and tactical intention you are working on. You might get the players to feed to each other too

The coach progresses the lesson to involve rally skills involving the teaching point

Build your teaching point into rally activities; can the players still remember the skill they developed when they also have to think about the rest of the game?

The coach completes the lesson with a competitive rally game or matchplay

Test the skill in competitive games or matchplay at the end of the lesson

The coach completes a cool down, thanks players, and sets the theme for the next lesson

Often overlooked, the cool down is a good time to slow the players down at the end with some gentle movement exercises or games

The coach and the players collect the equipment before the players leave

If you have another lesson straight after, set up equipment, and get ready to greet your next players

More Checklists for Tennis Coaches

[display-posts category=”checklists”]

Guide to using the Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

More Checklists for Tennis Coaches

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply