Tennis Lesson Plan – Portable Sports Coach

Planning an Effective PE Tennis Lesson: Ages 6-10 In this PE Tennis Lesson Plan series I am showing how you can plan the perfect lesson plan for your class. There are 7 phases to planning a net & wall lesson; Phase #1: Introduction Phase #2: PE Tennis Warm Up Phase #3: Individual Drill (You Are Here!) Phase #4: Paired Drill Phase #5: Group Activity Phase #6: Wrap Up Phase #7: Evaluation Phase #2 Recap In the tennis warm up phase, we looked at how to structure our warm up based on the physical and mental side of taking part in sport. Once we had them focused with a few questions on the health and fitness side of tennis, we then moved onto the physical side of the warm up. This consisted of three areas; General, Tennis Specific and finally Lesson Specific. We then had the optional section of doing a warm up game, and we discussed when and why you would use a tennis warm up game for school kids. If you haven’t read the ‘Planning a PE Tennis Warm Up for School Children’ post yet then I highly recommend you check it out here first before reading this post. If you’re up to date, then great! In this post we are going to talk about the individual phase of a PE Tennis Lesson plan. Main Lesson Content Phase: Individual Drill (Phase #3) As with the previous phase, in the individual phase we will break it down in to further sub phases. First and foremost we need to understand what we are trying to achieve. The individual phase is all about allowing the child to practise and discover on their own without the distraction of having a partner. This allows them to make mistakes, learn and improve whilst maintaining focus. As with all classes in schools, there is a good chance there will huge range of ability amongst the children in your class, so being able to cater for those children who are excelling as well as catering for those who are struggling is the key here. You’ll do this through either progressing or regressing the skill or technique you’re trying to teach. Progressing a Tennis Skill or Technique Progressing as the name suggests is when you make the tennis technique or skill harder. So, for example; Lesson Topic: Ball and Racket Familiarisation Activity: Throwing and catching variations with ball Progression: Throwing and catching variations with ball and racket You could introduce a progression early in a lesson for some individuals if they are finding some bits too easy. Regressing a Tennis skill or Technique When you regress the skill or technique you’re making it slightly easier. So for example if we use the same topic and scenario as before; Activity: Throwing and catching with same hand Regression: Throwing and catching with two hands. That, example is probably the basic of all but you get the point. You would regress the skill or technique if any child was finding it hard. How many times should you progress or regress a session? There is a huge debate to how many times you should progress or regress a lesson. I typically plan for three progressions and two regressions. This allows you to progress the lesson to a point that is achievable by the majority of the class, but also allows you also be prepared to support a child who may be struggling. The chances of using two regressions in a lesson are very rare but to be extra on top of your game it wouldn’t harm to plan for two. Coaching Points Within these two sub phases you will of course be developing their technique by using key coaching points. The amount of coaching points you use for your lessons will depend on variables such as; ability, focus, behaviour, time and of course the complexity of the technique your coaching. So, for me to give you a concrete number on the amount of coaching points you need to use would be foolish. However, in keeping things simple yet effective when it comes to your coaching aiming for around 6 coaching points should be okay for most lessons. Just remember that there is no real concrete number! You could split the progressions and coaching points evenly; 2 coaching points – Progression #1 2 coaching points = Progression #2 2 Coaching points – Progression #3 KS2 Peer Assessment As you will see in the partner phase, the peer assessment allows you to provide a positive learning environment in your lesson but also helps support a smooth transition in your lesson from the individual phase to the partner phase. An easy way to do this is to get them in pairs and have each child perform the technique they’ve already learned in front of another child. The child that is not performing the technique will give constructive feedback. I usually like to get them to give one positive, and one improvement that can be made. After a few minutes, sit them down and pick out 2 or 3 pairs and get them to present there feedback to the rest of the class. Points to Remember Always demonstrate what you are trying to teach After each progression get a child to stand up in front of the rest of the class and demo the technique they’ve been learning