Vacation time? Heading south? Need exercise? Make sure you pack your racquets, and - uh - don't forget the kids. Believe it or not, you can have some real fun playing tennis with your kids, even if you're an experienced player and they're just getting started.
We'll call your kid "B" for beginner. (Kids, if you're the better player, just switch roles here, making your parent "B.") Start with B at the net and you on the opposite side, up to ten feet away. Call this Level One. You will hit as close as possible to B's racquet so that B can make an easy volley. You should be careful to hit well to the side or above B's head, so that when B misses, he won't get a ball in the face. Stand closer together if this helps with gentleness and accuracy. B should try to make the ball bounce between the net and you. Keeping the ball going will be equally challenging for both of you, because B's volleys will go everywhere, making you adjust quite a bit while still hitting a very accurate and controlled shot. Set a goal of making ten consecutive hits two times, or twenty once, then move on to the next level.
At Level Two, both of you are at your service lines, rallying the ball gently with a goal again of ten consecutive hits twice or twenty once. Here, you might run like crazy and hit all kinds of low and high balls, but you should try to make the ball bounce gently to B every time. If B likes to run, move your shots from side to side, but still maintain that easy bounce.
For Level Three, both of you move back to halfway between the service line and baseline. Your goal now is eight consecutive hits just once. The increase in difficulty at this distance might surprise you. You'll run even more, and it will be harder to get the ball back to B softly and at the right height.
For the final Level Four, both of you will try to hit six consecutive shots once, baseline to baseline. If B hasn't played much tennis, six will be a pretty tough goal.
