- Check the space and the kit.
- Get your child's attention first.
- Show it from two sides.
- Say one thing only.
- End on one that works.
Put the phone down where you can see it. Tap Next with your thumb, or use the arrow keys.
Is the space marked?
- The net line across the middle of the strip
- A service line on each side, 2 m from the net
- A circle about 1 m wide in each far corner (chalk or tape)
Two lines 4 m apart and a cone in the middle. No racket needed. No cones? Use two shoes as the lines and a third shoe as the middle.
Three minutes to get warm.
Easy jogging on the spot, then arms and legs. How to warm up well is explained at workonfitness.com.
- Side-step: stand sideways to the line, step out with one foot and bring the other next to it, never past it.
- Split step: stand on the middle cone, feet a shoulder-width apart, knees a little bent.
- Ask your child to pretend to hit. As their arm comes through, make a tiny hop and land on both feet, on the front of the feet, not the heels.
- Push off to one side.
Show it once from the front and once from the side, slowly. Then let your child try.
- Side-step along the line to the end and back, feet never crossing. 3 times each way.
- Stand on the middle cone, knees a little bent, weight on the front of the feet.
- You swing your arm. Just as it comes through, the child hops a few centimetres and lands on both feet.
- You point left or right. The child pushes off and side-steps 2 steps that way.
- The child side-steps back to the middle cone. 10 tries.
How much: 3 times each way along the line and 10 split steps
Side step, feet apart
Catch the fake
The rules
You swing and throw a rolled-up sock to one side; the child split-steps, side-steps and catches it, but some swings are fakes.
- The child stands on the middle cone; you stand 3 m in front with 5 rolled-up socks or bean bags
- Swing your arm as if hitting and throw a sock gently to the child's left or right, at chest height, about one big step away
- The child split-steps as your arm comes through, side-steps and catches
- The child throws the sock back and returns to the middle cone
- Sometimes fake: start a swing and stop halfway without throwing
- 10 throws make a round
Fair play: Throw slower and closer for a young child, and fake no more than 2 times in 10.
- Points
- The child scores 1 point for each catch made after a split step and side-steps. You score 1 point for each foul.
- Fouls
- A point to you: the child hops or moves off on a fake; the feet cross on the way to the sock; the child catches without a split step first
- Win
- After 10 throws, the player with more points wins. A throw out of reach is thrown again and scores for nobody.
- 4
- 7
- 9
6 side-steps one way and 6 back, feet never crossing; then 5 of 5 split steps landed as you swing.
End on one that works. If it was hard today, finish with the easier version.
Well played.
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