Suspended Play

Oxford Sports Suspended Play Skills Challenge

There is no need for a tennis court, but to complete these you will need a racket, a tennis ball, and a wall (please ask permission from your parents’ and neighbours first, and try not to play next to the beautiful flower patch!).

You can download the skills challenge and record sheet from here:

• A4 paper challenge: Affix a sheet of A4 paper on a wall. Stand approx 2-4 meters away and see how any times you can hit it in 2 minutes.

• Never-ending rally: Against a wall, how many can you hit with a strict one bounce in-between every shot?

• Never-ending volley rally: Again, the longest wall-rally possible but do NOT let the ball touch the floor, volleys only here!

• Twisters: This one is simple but a good test of concentration – alternate between hitting each face of the racket – no bouncing or double hitting allowed.

• Fish & Chips championships: Hitting the ball on one side of the strings, turning 90 degrees to hit the frame (side of the racket).

• Volley to groundstroke challenge: Alternating between one groundstroke (where the ball bounces once) and a volley (no bounce), how many can be hit in this strict sequence (great for making you move forwards and backwards).

There are literally hundreds of sequences you can try out again a wall! Unfortunately the wall always wins……….

Record a unique sequence you can realistically repeat – ie, forehand topspin, backhand slice, forehand topspin, backhand topspin, forehand volley, forehand volley, backhand volley backhand volley etc