"Hey, what's with these soft tennis balls?  How come we don't use regular tennis balls?  The kids are going to have to use regular ones eventually, let's introduce them now. "  I haven't actually heard anyone state it like this, but there have been some parents (and older players) who have expressed similar sentiments.  As you might expect, we think we have a very good reason for why we use these softer balls.                             

 

We use a softball size foam ball, called a speedball, for the 6-7 and 8-10 year old groups.  We also start the 11-12 year old group with the foam ball; we introduce a Gamma lst Set Ball (regulation size but soft) to this group after the start of the season.   In each age group there are beginners who have never  never played tennis before.  We believe that these players can progress faster if they start with a softer ball.  It is our position that a young player needs to groove his swing before he can progress in this game.  You can't groove your stroke if you are in panic-mode as the ball is approaching.  A soft ball tossed or gently hit to him gives him time to prepare himself and swing properly before the ball is on top of him.  To see a video clip of ralleyball in action, click here.

This is why in the beginning we rely a great deal on the PracticeHit Tennis Trainer and why we do a lot of tossing and hitting drills, with easy tosses and abbreviated swings.  It is also why "show the logo" is a key concept in our teaching.

That's reasonable, you might say, but why not introduce the regular ball after the kids have grooved their swings, say about mid-season?  That's a good question.  We stick with the softer balls throughout the season because these softer balls force players to swing in a low-to-high motion, with minimal backswing and a long follow through.  The better players also learn to brush up on the ball to create topspin, adding even more control.  This is the way good tennis players on high school and college teams and at the pro-level hit a tennis ball.  If we used a regular tennis ball, probably less than 5 percent of the kids would learn to swing this way.  But with the softer ball this important technique is much easier to acquire.

Incidentally,  this year in my Town of Vestal Summer Tennis Recreation Program, we used the speedball for the 6-12 year olds and the lst set ball for the older kids.  Among the older kids, who played exclusively with the lst set ball, we had 2 girls from UE who attended all 6 weeks of the program and are now playing on the UE Girls Varsity Tennis Team, one at 3rd singles and one at 2nd doubles.  The singles player's topspin groundstrokes improved tremendously over the summer, which I think led to her successful placement on the UE team.

Still not convinced?  Get a couple of good players to join you in a game of mini-doubles using the speedball or the lst set ball.  Have all four players hit the ball hard but with sufficient topspin to keep the ball in the four boxes.  Do this for 5-10 minutes, and you'll see how much your topspin groundstrokes improve.

Finally, and really most importantly for VJTTA, we want the kids to learn tennis and to have fun doing it.  The softer balls help them gain control over their strokes more rapidly than if they were hitting with regular balls.  This is turn allows them to sustain a rally or hit the ball back and forth over the net several times.  And rallying is what makes tennis fun.  If you can't get the ball over the net you are going to become frustrated very quickly in this game, and you are not going to have much fun.  We want to get these kids hooked on tennis right from the start.  Making it easy to learn and fun to play is the best way to do that, and that's why we use these softer balls.

Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)

© RCCummings – All Rights Reserved 2006      
No copying, reproduction, or redistribution without expressed written consent.