Lesson video

Hi, Mr. Wnuk here, and today's PE lesson, we're going to be looking at maximising your hand-eye coordination with a little bit of tennis, so when you're ready, let's do it.

If you're unsure about doing any of the activities in this lesson, make sure you have a trusted adult nearby when you start them.

This lesson should take place indoors such as in your living room.

You should ensure there's space for you to work safely including overhead.

Use bare feet, not socks.

Make sure the floor is not slippery.

Wear comfortable clothing, put hair up if needed and remove any jewellery.

Pause this video now if there's anything you need to do to get ready.

For today's lesson, you need to be dressed in your regular PE kit shorts and t-shirt are great.

If you're doing this indoors, please make sure you are barefoot and if you're doing this outdoors, please make sure you've got appropriate footwear on such as trainers.

The equipment you're going to need for today's lesson include a ball.

If you do not have a ball, you could use a bundle of socks but it needs to be around the size of a tennis ball.

You need something to act as a target, so a box or a basket or a bucket, anything will do, something you can aim for.

And then finally, we need a tennis racket.

Now most of you probably won't have a tennis racket lying around at home, so a frying pan will work brilliantly however, please ask whoever owns that frying pan if you can use it first and maybe make sure it is cleaned.

The space you're going to need around you is at least around two metres.

If you need to pause the video to gather any of this together, please do so right now.

So I'm going to start you off with a warm-up.

You've done plenty of warm-ups before, at school and through these Oak lessons, so I don't need to show you how to do a warmup.

But I am going to ask you what are the three stages? Do you remember what stage one of a warmup is called? It's the? Pulse raiser, yes, you're trying to increase your heart rate and get valuable blood and oxygen to the working muscles that you're going to be using in the PE lesson.

Stage two, and there's a picture on the screen that might give you a bit of a clue.

Yeah, that's stretching your mobility and then the final part of our warmup is called skill related practise.

Now you don't necessarily have to do that now because I will cover that a bit in our practical.

Pause the video now and get yourself warmed-up.

So this is what the lesson is going to look like, you have already done your warmup, fantastic work.

We're going to then move on to some racket familiarisation drills which is, what I was talking about with the end of warm up, let's go back to practise.

We're going to look at some forehand strokes, look at some backhand strokes and then we're going to finish off with an exit quiz.

So let's look at the first key word of today's lesson, which is whole body coordination.

We're applying this essence to tennis, so it is important that we can coordinate our whole body.

And this is a simultaneous movement of different parts of the body involved in a particular action and we're going to be looking at lots of different actions today.

So while we're using a racket in sport, we need to think the racket as being an extension of our arm and most sports that use rackets, would often use this analogy, so tennis, badminton, squash and table tennis.

The types of skills we're going to be looking at today are familiarisation, where we're going to be looking at the grip, ball control.

We're going to look at some steps and the ready position.

We're going to look at the forehand and we're going to look at the backhand.

So we're going to start off with activity one which is racket familiarisation, so grab your racket, aka frying pan and the ball, aka bundle of socks and I will see you out on the court in a few minutes.

Okay, everybody welcome to some tennis and for this activity, you're going to need a racket.

Now, if you haven't got a racket at home, this is awesome alternative, a frying pan.

Just make sure you checked with whoever's frying pan it is, that you're allowed to use it and make sure it's not full of whatever you use to cook in frying pans.

So make sure it's cleaned, ready for your activities.

Now I mean you can use a ball of socks if you want, but working better if you do have a ball that bounces on the floor.

If you haven't got one of them, you might need someone to help by throwing the ball for you but you should be able to self feed yourself.

Now, the first thing we're going to do is look at the grip.

When we play tennis, there are a number of different grips that you can use and that's dependent on the shape of the handle.

Obviously, the frying pan we haven't got that shape, so we're just going to hold it, a traditional grip as if we're holding the frying pan up in the air.

So it's perpendicular like 90 degrees to me, not that way, this way around and then grip here at the base of the handle.

Keep your little finger at the bottom and transport your fingers out a little bit, okay.

So we've got a nice solid grip.

Now the first thing we need to do and you can have it open or the back.

I'm going to hold it on the back because this first exercise we're going to just be hitting the ball in the air, so you get your ball of socks.

I want you to practise how many hits you can make without losing ball on the floor, so pause the video and have it go.

Keep your wrist nice and strong and solid, bouncing the ball in the air, nonstop.

Excellent stuff everybody.

How many did you get? Awesome, did you beat me? Cause mine wasn't very good, hopefully you did.

Well done on that exercise, right.

We're now going to just hold the racket in our hand and practise a movement called the ready position.

So ready position, the racket needs to be out in front of us, so I'm going to have two hands on the racket, ready to go.

This way we can step and swing for forehand or we can just move for a backhand with two hands.

So two hands, the bottom hand is gripping it nice and solid, the front hand is just supporting it and resting it.

Bend your knees, lean forward slightly and look at your target, which will be, or your opponent at this point, which is me, if you're watching this video and doing it as we speak.

So, feet, shoulder width apart, bend your knees, racket out in front of you, about waist height with your bottom hand, other hand's just supporting it, ready to go, that's called the ready position.

So pause the video now, just quickly practised that ready position.

Excellent stuff on that ready position.

We're now going to grip this ready position and combine it with a split step.

Now I've laid out four different colour cones.

You don't even have to have the cones, this is just visually so you can see what I'm doing.

But if you've got something as a marker, you can put it down, they will work even better as if you have someone with you, they can even call out the colour of the marker.

Now you don't have to have cones but for sure around your house, you've got four different colour objects you can use.

So you're going to start in the ready position, on the back line here, okay, on your toes and you can even be moving on your feet if you want to.

Now split step is where we jump forwards or step forwards with our feet slightly wide apart, ready to turn and play a shot.

So I'm ready here with my feet and now we split step, okay, like that.

So just pause the video now and practise from the ready position into that split step.

Have a few goes at that.

Excellent stuff, this time we're going to use our cones and we're going to play a shot.

I'm going to go from red to blue, to green, to yellow.

So I'm in that split step, I'm going to jump forwards, play a shot with my red hand.

Split step, split step forwards, play a shot, blue hand.

Split step forwards, a yellow shot, two handed backhand.

Split step, jump forwards, back hand of the green.

Now, if you've got someone with you, they can just call out different colours so you don't always go around in a circle but you can practise, it's ready position, split step and shadow stroke, in one of those four target areas.

Pause the video, have a go at that.

Excellent stuff.

Now, one of the skills we looked at was the ready position and is demonstrated as you can see on the picture on the screen but let's try and remember some of those coaching points about the ready position.

So have a look at the person on the screen and see if you can reel off any of those coaching points.

Let's start by making a few notes on a bit of paper.

I'll pause the video or you can pause the video right now, grab a bit of paper and just make a few notes.

Bullet points are fine of how the ready position should look.

Okay, so you got your paper, you jotted it down.

If you want, you could have just spoken it out loud to the screen, if you wanted to.

So let's have a look at some of them.

The first one is, as you can see the person that is looking at the opponent or the target, ideally its the opponent, we're going to watch where they're going to play the ball.

Lean forwards, two hands on the racket, ready to go.

Arms are out front, knees are slightly bent and feet are apart.

Finally, your weight is forwards.

So true or false.

The ready position is a stance you take after your opponent hits the ball.

Is that true or false? Read that question carefully.

Well, the answer is, false yes.

You take that ready position before your opponent hits the ball so you can move appropriately to react to the direction the ball is moving.

So quick key word, preparation.

And this is the first stage, the skill production that happens before the ball was struck, so essentially it's moving from that ready position into this beginning of the stroke.

Okay, so we're going to start looking at the forehand and our ready position and moving that into our forehand stroke.

If you need to pause the video to grab your equipment, feel free to do so now, if not I'll see you in a few seconds.

Okay, we're going to start working on some of our strokes and we're going to look at our forehand stroke to start with.

I've laid my cones out or whatever my markers out, to act as a net, it's just something that I need to try and get the ball over.

And now I've added in a target which is just a bucket.

You can have anything, you can even put your frying pan on the floor 'cause that could be your target.

My goal is to simply throw the ball, forehand stroke action into my target.

Now some key things, I'm going to be side on to the ball, on to the target and I'm going to be looking over my shoulder, over my, 'cause I'm right-handed, I'm going to be facing with my right hand at the back.

So, I'm going to be looking over my left shoulder.

The ball is going to be palmed facing my target and I'm going to start with behind my back and I'm going to bring my arm forwards and I'm going to try and release it about waist height, so, side on, palm facing forwards and I'm going to swing my arm through and try and release at about waist height.

Hit my target.

So try again.

Now you don't need a bouncy ball for this, you can just use a ball of socks and aim for your target.

Pause the video, set this up, have a few goes at that.

How did that target practise go? Did you manage to get it in? Awesome stuff.

Now you're going to need to get your racket back and we're going to use a ball and we're going to self feed the ball.

Now we're going to put what we practised using the racket.

So remember we're side on, our palm's going to face forwards and we're going to try and make contact around our waist height as we move the ball forward.

So you're going to drop the ball in front of you, to self feed.

So, start with the ball, start with the racket up in front of you, you can be in the ready position if you like, you can drop the ball, turn sideways and catch it.

So remember to look over your shoulder, drop the ball on the floor, racket comes from behind, comes low, hit it, palm facing forwards about waist height against the wall.

Ready, drop the ball, self feed.

You're trying to keep your hand eye coordination, to catch the ball.

Now start with the self feed, if you can do that, you can try continuously playing it to yourself and see how many strokes or rallies you can get.

Challenge yourself and see how many you can get in a row.

Pause the video, have a go at the forehand.

Great work on the forehand.

I hope you enjoyed it and were successful at it.

So let's look at one of the key words, the forehand.

Now this is a stroke in tennis that comes across the body with the palm facing the direction of the stroke.

So we've just been practising that forehand and you can see the image on the screen of a player, playing a forehand.

So lets breakdown this forehand technique, and let's look at this picture of this player, playing a forehand shot.

And we're going to break it down and let's work down the body from head down to the ball.

So firstly, he is looking at the ball but he is also looking over his shoulder, he's looking over his non-racket hand shoulder and he's obviously twisted side-on to do that.

This is a one handed shot, so forehands are one handed whereas the backhands are typically two-handed shots.

His weight is backwards, ready to transfer into the ball as he moves forward into the shot.

Now the racket is being dropped.

Remember that technique of just throwing the ball we started with, we're dropping the racket, dropping the arm down in a sort of, in an arching motion.

And he's going to make contact with the ball in front of the body and he will follow through which will, I'm guessing ready, in the ready position for return shot.

So, which of these is not correct when playing a forehand stroke? Is it option one, use one hand to hold the racket in the stroke.

Option two, keep the eyes on the ball.

Option three, use two hands to hold the racket in the stroke.

Option four, move the body weight backwards in preparation phase.

And I'm sure you know the answer, it is option three.

Well done everybody 'cause you all probably got it right.

So let's move on to some backhand shots now.

And if you need to pause the video to get yourself ready, do so now, if not, I will see you in a few seconds.

How did that forehand draw go? How many shots did you consecutive play against the wall? Great stuff.

We're now going to look at backhand shots.

Now backhand is more of it's often a two handed shot.

So I've still got my right hand at the bottom of the racket but this time my left hand's going to join it at the top of my right hand and I'm going to play my shot backhanded.

So for this, I'm going to look over my right shoulder, I'm going to play the short swing in a sort of a shallow C shape.

And I want to try and make contact with the side of my body about waist height, just in front of my hips, so not back here, but just slightly forwards.

So the racket comes from low shallow C and I meant to make contact right about here, out in the side of my body, just in front of my hips.

Start off with a self feed.

We bounce it on the ground and see if you can just do one against the wall.

I'm going to show you from the side here.

A bit low.

Try to go up.

A shallow C.

Now, if you get good at that, try to play consecutive shots.

See how many consecutive shots you can get in a row.

Pause the video, go and practise some backhand shots.

Good luck.

Brilliant work with those backhands, fantastic.

So lets look at a key word, backhand.

Well, this is a stroke in tennis, obviously we just did some tennis but we use it in other sports as well, that comes across our body with the back of the hand moving in direction of the stroke, of the back of the hand, not the palm, that's forehand, backhand, back of the hand.

So we've just looked at that and we were practising a two handed backhand or a double handed grip backhand, which is typically the way we play in tennis.

In other sports, you wouldn't play two handed backhand.

Squash and badminton is one-handed, table tennis, because you haven't got much room on the handle is one handed.

So true or false, backhand in tennis is commonly played with two hands on the racket, true or false? Shout that answer out please, it is true.

Thank you for getting that one correct, well done.

So which of the following skills in these images is a backhand.

So I want you to study those pictures on the screen and decide which one is the backhand.

And then you can point to the screen, you can touch your screen and tell me which one it is.

In our touch screen motion technology now, so ready one, two, three, touch it now, did you get it right? I'm sure you did.

Yes, option one is the preparation phase of a backhand.

Now notice how he's got his dominant hand at the bottom of the racket and his non-dominant hand is on the top of his racket and he's likely to slide it down as he makes the shot to do a double handed backhand.

Okay, so we're going to look at hand-eye coordination in tennis now, where we're going to start using targets and we're going to work both our shots.

So let's look at another keyword, a ground stroke.

Now in tennis, a ground stroke it can be a forehand or backhand shot that is played after the ball bounces on the ground.

So that is typically known as a ground stroke.

So let's look at this true or false question.

Serving, forehand, backhand strokes are all examples of ground strokes.

Is that true or is it false? It's false because a serve isn't a ground stroke.

Its a start of a rally or start of the game point or the point.

It's not in a rally where the ball is bouncing on the ground for you to hit it.

So I want you to look at this picture of someone playing a backhand and I want you to tell me what makes this a good example of a backhand.

Now you don't have to think back to the lesson, to the practise we've done, just look at the shape and the techniques he's using in his body and see what you can pick out.

So you might need to pause this video and jot some of these notes down then you are more than welcome to.

Let's see what you've got.

So the weaker hand is on the top of the racket handle.

So his dominant hand is on the face of the racket handle, his weak hand is at the top, just supporting it, ready to move into a two handed grip.

Now the top arm, the weaker hand is flexed.

So you can see it's bent there as the racket is pulled back and the bottom arm is extended across the body, ready to play this shot.

His feet are shoulder width apart or quite significantly more shoulder width apart, the feet are apart.

And he's about to rotate his body forwards, so he's coming from a side arm position and he's going to rotate his body forwards.

Now you have other things, such as he is looking at the ball, he's looking over his shoulder and he's leaning backwards slightly, so the weight is backwards, ready to transfer into the shot.

Right, now for a bit of a challenge, I've actually set myself up a bit of a net.

So I went around in the garden, I found a couple of chairs and an old broom and I've made that up to about net high.

But if you haven't got that, just carry on with the imaginary net.

I've put in your markers down on the floor as a line.

Now I've included my buckets, one over there, one just back over there, that I'm going to be aiming as my target.

I want you just to self feed and play either forehand and backhand shot and try and aim and hit your target.

So I'm just going to have a go now and let's see if I can make it.

So I'm going to do forehand first.

Way too hard, way too hard.

Let's see if we can do it again.

Nearly, nearly.

Speed the video up until I get it.

First home.

Now we try backhanded.

It's going to take a bit longer I reckon.

Two hands in the backhand remember.

Rubbish.

That'll do.

Keep going till you hit your forehand target and then keep going to your backhand target and then move your targets around.

Pause the video, have a go.

Okay, now time to be creative and your chance to set up a target challenge.

I want you to pause a video, to set up a series of targets at varying distances, away from you, and attempt to play your ball at these consecutively, using strokes we have learnt today.

Please make sure this is done in a safe environment.

Now you could set up a net if you wanted to or something to resemble a net but you do not have to, this isn't about net, it's about the accuracy of the shot.

So, feel free to set up however you like and be as creative as you like.

Pause the video now, go and do that and then join me when you've finished.

Time for our cool down.

So remember an effective cool-down includes a pulse lowering exercise, followed by some stretching.

Pause the video now and go and complete your own cool-down.

So today we looked at maximising hand-eye coordination in sport and we predominantly focused on tennis with our frying pan.

So we looked at a variety of skills.

We started off with some tennis, racket familiarisation drills, we then moved on to the ready position and then incorporated a split step.

We then started applying coordination, our whole body coordination into the forehand and the backhand shots.

Now, once we got to grips with them, you went away and were creative and you started setting up targets and I hope you were successful in hitting those targets.

So that was today's lesson on maximising hand-eye coordination.

I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you found it fun.

And I hope you're motivated maybe when you're ready to go and join a tennis club or play a bit of recreational tennis with your friends.

For now, I will see you very soon.