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GETTING STARTED
Children have not developed their hand/eye coordination to the extent that an adult has. What seems simple to an adult can be very difficult for kids. Often when an adult is coaching a child, they are working on different wavelengths. The adult is trying to teach the child to hit the ball on the table. The kid is struggling just to hit the ball. It may be difficult for many adults not experienced with children to perceive this. To a child, just hitting the ball with the racquet can be difficult. Now that the kids know how to hold the racquet, the first inclination might be to send them out to the table and start teaching them the strokes. But that would be premature. You have to work up to it. The kids will hit the ball everywhere but on the table and will not be able to learn much of anything. Before sending them to the table, have them practice bouncing the ball on the racquet. For elementary school children, that can be surprisingly tricky. See how many times they can bounce the ball up and down on the racquet. Make a game out of it - see who can do it the most number of times. Have them do this for five minutes or so both now and at the start of each class for the first few weeks. It is a perfect way to develop hand/eye coordination to the point where they will soon be able to hit a moving ball and keep it on the table. Make sure they use the proper grip while bouncing the ball. Variations of this game can be done. After they have become proficient at ball bouncing, have them bounce the balls on the floor with the racquet. Or have them try bouncing the ball on the racquet but using alternate sides of the racquet. Relay races are also great fun. Make up teams and have them race while bouncing the ball up and down or against the floor. The kids will have so much fun, they won’t even realize how much practice they are getting.
Bouncing a ball on a racket helps increase coordination for young beginners. Copyright Larry Hodges Copyright Mark Nordby, Dan Seemiller, John Oros Copyright USA Table Tennis |
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Last Update : 06 Kasım, 2002
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