ROG Junior Club- Week 2

At the start of our lessons this week, we got the chance to use our new club equipment.

Between Friday and Saturday we got to do both warm ups which included -

Skipping Challenges - we worked on our footwork endurance and coordination with these challenges.

For some of the players this was their first time ever trying to skip. Over the weeks they will improve their skipping with more practice.

Junior volunteers Ashton and Conor showed off their impressive skipping and tricks they could do. The players (and coaches) were very impressed.

There was also a tennis assault course, where we worked on jumping/moving through hurdles, footspeed through the cones, volley footwork patterns, throwing using soft balls, which mimic our groundstrokes, while bringing a hoop up over body.

This led us on to our main session.

The ROG Green players started with the game “two touch tennis”.

Players firstly tried to get the longest rallies they could, followed by playing competitive points.

Players had to control the ball when it bounced on the ground first by tapping to above their head, they then had to send the ball over the net on the second bounce.

This helped work on their coordination, depth perception, along with their sending and receiving skills.

After this we played a game called “Unlimited Power”

This was a favourite amongst the players as they got to really work on their serves.

Instead of having the traditional 2 serves allowed rule, the point couldn’t get started until the serve was in.

It gave the players a chance to think about what they needed to do, with a little less pressure at the beginning.

Players alternated who served every two points and it was first to win 10 points. This got players to really work on their serve and returning  game while playing live points.

The session finished with a game which caused a real stir on the courts.

It is entitled “Last Point Wins”. The coaching team put a timer on the clock, with the actual length of the match Unknown to the players.

Whoever wins the last point, wins the match.

This got the players learning to deal with tough situations, as they could have won more points but didn’t win the match.

It also allowed them to work on their concentration skills as they need to ensure they are fully focused for each point as they don’t know when the match will stop.

Overall a super week at BLTC with next week looking at a game where players are learning to be defenders and attackers!

 Check out some of the great rallies and point plays on display below.

Well done to everyone who attended this week.