Nine Year Old Girls

[RonSalazar 0]

Hi everybody. I'm a second year coach with a team of nine year old girls. We get to practice for one hour, once a week. I have a couple of girls who I think are ready to try to overhand serve. Any suggestions on how to introduce this skill. Also, last year we had a hard time returning serves. Any suggestions on how to improve that area. Thanks. Ron

[Connie 0]

For overhand serving I would have the girls start about halfway back on the court to help ensure their success. After each serve goes over have them take a step back and before they know it they will be at the back line. Focus on their form and not so much on going over the net. If the form is there odds are it will go over if they have the strength.

For serve recieve a drill I do is have the girls move to a tossed ball and instead of passing the ball they let the ball pass through their arms. If they are in the right position it will be easy for them. It will also teach them to keep their body behind the ball as they pass as well as staying low.

Encourage them to call every ball and to be aggresive - no ball hits the floor. If they are having trouble moving to the ball a drill I do is toss them a ball and have them catch it (after calling it of course). The catch is I do not toss it directly to them they must move to the ball. After doing this I them have them pass to a target with my toss. I begin tossing it to them and gradually make it so they must move more.

Good luck and let us know how it is going.

Connie

[fmfjohn 0]

Ron,

Connie really has given you sound advice. Having the girls start at the attack line or a little deeper, then working back to the end line in steps while they focus primarily on form not only allows them to be successful quickly and often, but also warms their shoulders and arms up before they are hitting all out. ( one of the few things that I just wont allow my players to do it walk into the gym and start bombing serves from the end line, no matter how old or strong they are) Relative to form, I'd really stress "placing" the ball instead of tossing it, and work on as low a toss as possible to promote rhythm and therefore consistancy. I would also recommend that you don't have your girls try to serve from behind the end line until they can throw a ball overhand from that distance. Actually, I would use that test to determine just how deep they can hit overhand. It's really hard to control, since once they can do it, thats just about all they want to do:)

I also really like Connie's two drills. Again, form is more important than results. (but only until they have mastered the form) As she says, have them keep their body behind the ball. You might want to be sure that they understand that that means behind the ball relative to the ball's flight, not the end line. You have probably already noticed that one of the major technique problems beginners have after they learn to face the incoming ball is either "batting" at the ball to change its direction, or twisting the forearms instead of dropping the shoulder. Once they understand the importance of dropping the shoulder, passing usually gets easier - and better.

The only thing that I might suggest that you consider doing a little differently is, since you have such limited time and therefore need to maximize touches, having the girls do the drills in pairs, and you move around making whatever comments or corrections are necessary. With so little time, you really need to let them handle the ball as often as they can, and even tossing it helps them improve. [i really recommend that you have them run as many drills as possible, even if they don't always run as smoothly as they would if you were running them. They will get better faster.]

The only other suggestion I have is to make sure the girls know their area of serve receive responsibility in each rotation, and let them practice passing from each one.

As Connie also said, let us know how it goes.

john

[RonSalazar 0]

Thanks for the great insight and the great ideas. I will let you know how it goes. Ron