Cardio tennis is a fun, fast group activity where players of all ages and abilities can play together. The session should be played with either orange or green tennis balls to ensure safety and help improve rally length by levelling the standards.
Session plan
Sessions should include a warm-up, a variety of basket drills and games, and a cool down. For a full list of drills and games, click here.
The bigger the coaching basket, the better. You want players to be hitting as many balls as possible and not be constantly picking them up.
Equipment
Make sure you have some equipment too, to make some side-line activities and keep players active. Ladders, and cones are a good start. For more advanced players, you might want to use kettle bells, medicine balls, dumbbells or a bosu-ball, for example.
training Zone
During cardio tennis sessions, it is important that player’s heart-rates are monitored. We need to know they are working hard enough to burn fat, but also not to the point of exhaustion.
A person’s recommended maximum heart-rate can simply be worked out by doing 220 minus their age. They ideally want to be working within their 50-85% zone. The American Heart Association says that a moderate exercise is working at 50-70% of your maximum, while vigorous exercises is working out at 70-85%.
If your club has enough, provide your players with heart rate monitors. Otherwise, they can measure their own pulse at the end of each exercise.
Medical Declaration Form
Finally, make sure your players are fit and well enough to do cardio tennis. If it is their first time doing cardio tennis, get them to fill out a medical declaration form. You can access one by clicking here.
