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MEMBER’S CONTENT Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

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

MEMBER'S CONTENT Standard Lesson Structure Checklist

More Checklists for Tennis Coaches

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How to Help Players Keep the Racket on the Ball (Video)

How to Help Players Keep the Racket on the Ball

In this tip i2c Director, Richard Marklow shares the quick coaching tip that he estimates he’s used most in his coaching career! It’s about making sure that you keep the racket on the ball for as long as you can.

Richard says,

“When we’re coaching the forehand we talk about having a big back-swing and follow through for the stroke, but fundamentally the thing that all good forehands have in common is the strength of the contact zone as the racket passes the body. That’s the business end of the stoke.

As long as the racket is in a good position and comes through to make a good contact with the ball – and stays on the ball, then we’re going to get a good result down the other end. Too much on the back-swing, too much on the follow through and you’ll lose the quality around the contact zone.

It’s all about holding the racket on the line of the ball for as long as you can. Holding the ball on the racket. Even if you’ve got a bigger swing, the contact zone where you are keeping the racket on the ball, doesn’t change. Keep the racket on target for as long as you can and you’ll have good success with that technique.”

LEVEL 2: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 2 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 3: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 3 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 4: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 4 Coaches and Candidates

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See more of our Quick Coaching Tips:

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Note: Originally published Apr 13, 2016

How to Correct the Ball Toss on the Serve by Taking the Player’s Weight Off the Back Foot

How to Correct the Ball Toss on the Serve by Taking the Player's Weight Off the Back Foot

We apologise for the audio-feedback! This clip was filmed live in possibly the worst audio setting ever; an echoing gym hall! However, we thought this short clip on how to correct the ball toss on the serve was still worth sharing.

Early November I was working with coaches in Romania on teaching the serve. I looked specifically at the importance of having the weight transfer onto the front when the ball is released from the throwing arm. Serving with the weight on the back foot starts a whole chain of linked problems.

What’s the biggest give-away that the child’s weight is on the back-foot when they’re serving? Watch your junior-player when they’re serving; the majority of kids will be moving their front foot when they are serving. The front foot moving indicates that the child has their weight on their back foot – which will have follow on impacts on their ball toss and balance. When the child’s weight is on the back foot, the ball toss will go behind the player – upsetting the player’s serve rhythm and balance. When the ball is going behind the player, they will need hit from below the ball… and they will then change their grip to do that.

You see what’s going on here! One small issue leads to a ton of problems.

 

LEVEL 2: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 2 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 3: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 3 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 4: Other Drills we Recommend for Level 4 Coaches and Candidates

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See more on Teaching the Serve

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How to Build Cross Court Control to Improve Doubles Skills

How to Build Cross Court Control to Improve Doubles Skills

We recommend this Doubles Drill for adult improver lessons to help players build cross court control – a skill that will help them develop confidence in making the first cross-court ball.

Rich demonstrates variations to create different court situations depending on the level of players you are coaching.

LEVEL 2: More Drills for Level 2 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 3: More Drills for Level 3 Coaches and Candidates

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LEVEL 4: More Drills for Level 4 Coaches and Candidates

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See more drills

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MEMBERS ONLY Tots Tennis: Floor Tennis! (video)

This exclusive clip from one of our Tots CPD classes shows Mel explaining how to start tots off working with a ball and how to link that to the actions they will use when they work with a racket.

Mel’s draws on her experience to highlight the unique challenges of working with tots! For instance, when tiny tots are unable to roll a ball to each other… Mel shows how to make the exercise simpler and how to provide explanations and instructions that tots will be able to follow.

This is an excellent resource for anyone who has completed one of our Tots CPD classes or is thinking about running tots classes. Mel Short, who presents this activity, is an expert coach educator who regularly delivers i2c’s Tots CPD short course.