Topic: Needing help with beginners...

[BluesTennis]

I'm needing a few tips.  My tennis team this year consist of 10 girls that have never picked up a racket.  I just took this job and did not realize i have only 2 weeks before their first match.  I need some help on how to get their strokes across to them the quickest.  Also if you have any websites with any good beginner drills i would be more than happy.  Thanks for the help.

[Tennis4you]

Tennis4you's Workshop has some drill for beginners, also just regular drills as well.  You can access the Workshop from the homepage.

If they have never picked up a racquet before you will certainly want to drill with them a ton.  But as far as gettng them strokes quickly, that will be the tough part.  Technically they will have to get use to the ball bouncing, how and where ot position themselves ec etc.  I would give them a basic grip for their shots, show them at the beginning of each practice some example strokes and then let them go hit a ton.  As they start to get better you can start to define their strokes a little more.

Sounds like a big unertaking, but it will be fun.  Good luck!

[tenista]

I get about 15-20 beginners each year on my high school team. Here's a couple sources I've found helpful: Oscar Wegner, who coached Guga, has developed a program that I use. In two days, my kids can hit all the strokes and are playing points on the third day. I recommend his dvds. And Tom Veneziano, "The Tennis Warrior," who adheres to a similar philosophy, stressing repetition, has an excellent website and informative regular email updates. Here are the links:

http://www.tennisteacher.com/
http://www.tenniswarrior.com/

Good luck!