The return is an extremely difficult shot for young children as it challenges the player enormously. The ball has to be hit under time pressure with a very compact unit turn in front of the body in order to use the power of the opponent and to bring him also under time pressure and pressure of space.

Especially the unit turn in open stance position followed by a weight-transfer-jump from right to left foot, hitting the ball in front of the body is a great challenge. Here you can see a methodical series with which this complicated sequence of movements can be learned step by step.

The first exercise is the „Two tennis ball magnet exercise“.

Here the player is holding two tennis balls with both hands , touching each other. The kid is told that both balls are magnetic and stick together. Then the player has to do the split step with directly afterwards going into the unit turn without separating the balls. Like that the unit turn is kept compact and with no early separation of the hands. When having finished the pivot on both feet the player has to transfer the weight and jump diagonal forward from the right leg onto the left while bringing the arm forward and stopping the ball right before the stick. Like that the kids get a feeling for the right distance , when to separate the hands and the nearly stretched arm on contact point.

The second exercise is called „one and one“.

Here the player has to do the same as in the first exercise, but is alternating with stopping at contact point with the first move and letting the ball off the hand on the second move. Like that the player gets a feeling for the fast arm action through the contact phase.

The video above shows the first exercise without the stick (for orientation) with the front view.

The third exercise is called „ball tracking and catch“.

This exercise is very demanding because the player has to do the return sequence while tracking the ball, coming from the other side of the net (played as a very slow serve by the coach). The player has to catch the ball with a stretched arm diagonal in front of the body, stopping the move at contact point. This exercise is great for anticipation and ball tracking.

The next step is to let the player hit the return with racket and a live ball. Now the benefits of the methodical series support the development of the timing of the return (first return from short distance) and the player is able to contact the ball properly.

Watch the video above and have a look onto the key points of a successful forehand return in open stance. Split step —> Unit turn and pivot of the feet—> racket drop—> weight transfer and jump from right to left foot—>while contacting the ball in front.

The last video shows a progression of the return training with practicing already a return + 1 pattern, without ball (shadowing a forehand return + an inside-out forehand).

Change the practice court with more serve and return training. Work from young age on patterns and challenge your kids. They are capable of doing great things if you let them and guide them.

So much for today, stay strong and healthy. We live in exiting times. All the best COACH DIMI