Rallies using a mini tennis net and various balls on the squash court

 Objective:  Fun games and introduction with racquets and balls

Warm-up:  Hit the beachball as high in the air as possible, then catch/stop it on the racquet without it falling off the racquet.

Drills:  watch the video!

Game:  watch the video!

Cool down:  HIt the beachball with the racquet down on the ground  and try to get a rhythm hitting the ball down after each bouncewithouth loosing it.

Equipment:

Nets:

     Tennis Line Tape  use instead of a minitennis net
     Tennis Net System adds great variety and can be used for a variety of drills.

Balls:

    Beach Balls the bigger they are the easier it is to rally

    Balloons go from large balloons to small balloons to increase difficulty.

    Foam Balls vary balls as much as possible, use different sizes and densities. This will teach kids to adapt.

Racquets:

    Racquetball Racquets suitable for beachball game and young kids

More challenging:

Details:

Combining a beachball with hitting over a net or over a tape is a good form of introducing a racquet and a ball to younger kids. With the slow flying beachball, the success rate of making contact with the ball is very high, hitting it over a net makes it fairly easy to get rallies going quickly.

1. Hit the beachball over a minitennis net with as many hits needed to get it over the net. The beachball can't touch the ground on your side or you loose a point. Only underhand strokes are allowed as the last stroke to hit the beachball over the net (it can be hit overhead on your side to block the ball though).

2. Rally over the net with the same rules as in exercise Nr. 1 except that the ball may bounce on the floor but not roll. This is very suitable for starter kids or young kids with little hand-eye coordination. With these rules, the vast majority of kids will be able to keep a longer rally going. If it doesn't work at all use a balloon.

3. Hit the beachball over the minitennis net with only one shot per side allowed. The beachball is not allowed to touch the floor.

4. Rebound Tennis: Play with a foamball over the minitennis net with tennis like rules. Serve: must be underhand but to either side of the court. Ball needs to bounce before hitting back or frontwall respectively, otherwise it is out of bounds. The foamball can be hit over the net by using the sidewalls first.

5. Hitting the ball over the front or backwall respectively to make it go over the net is a great game to work on a retrieving a ball in the back corners by hitting it over the backwall to the front wall. Using a softball makes it easier to keep the ball in play and encourages kids to keep the arm loose for a powerfull swing. Show kids the importance of opening the racquet face for hitting this shot. Not only does this increase the chance for the ball to go all the way to the front wall but it also buys time for the kid beeing under pressure to recover to the T position in a real squash match.

6. Keep a rally going by hitting the ball into the net. Try to move your opponent from left to right.