Curriculum

The Space City Tennis ten-week program offers a comprehensive approach to skill development for both singles and doubles players, tailored to different skill levels:

  • Moonshot (Red Ball) Students: Coach Koko emphasizes fun while teaching fundamental strokes—forehand, backhand, and volley—to build a strong foundation.
  • Shooting Stars (Orange Ball) Students: Coaches refine basic strokes and introduce advanced techniques like serving, returning serves, approach shots, and overheads.
  • Advanced Students: Focus on long-term goal setting, weekly targets, and enthusiasm for competitive play, with strategies for constructing low-risk, aggressive points and excelling in doubles matches.

Sportsmanship is the backbone of the Space City Tennis program, promoting respect, teamwork, and a positive competitive spirit for all players, from Moonshot to advanced levels.

Week 1: Fundamentals of Serving, the most crucial stroke in competitive tennis
Week 2: Fundamentals of Forehand, Cross-court, and high-heavy
Week 3: Backhand fundamentals for backcourt and approach shots, including one-hand slices,  high-heavy top spins, and when to hit a lob.

Week 4: Volley; flat, slice, and dropshot, with a focus on body and hand positioning. Following serve, forehand, backhand, volley shots account for about 10% of all strokes during a tennis match. There are various types of volley shots, such as flat, slice, and dropshot. We believe focus on body, feet, and hand positioning are key elements of any successful volley.

Week 5: Overhead 

While the overhead stroke is seldom used when playing singles, it is an essential shot in doubles.
Overview: The overhead structure is similar to the serve stroke, with three key variables to consider: foot placement, environmental factors (sun/wind), and placement considerations.
Data: Overheads are generally the final shot when played in doubles, about 75% of the time.
Tactic: To prevent an opponent from repeatedly hitting lobs during a match, 1.) Displaying a well-executed overhead generally changes the competition's game plan. 2) Where your overhead lands is more important than just blasting the shot.
Strategy: When warming up before a match, hit several overheads to show opponents that you have a winning tool in your arsenal. As Sun Tzu says, impose your will on combatants to establish dominance before the first stroke is ever played.

Week 6 : Tennis Doubles

Tennis doubles requires strategy, teamwork, and mastering six strokes: serve, return of serve, cross-court ground stroke, approach shot, volley, and overhead. While playing a point, footwork is essential, such as split steps for quick reactions.
Roles: Server/Receiver (Baseline): Focus on deep, angled serves/returns to keep opponents pinned. 
Net Player: Poach (intercept cross-court shots) and volley aggressively, prioritizing placement over power.
Strategies: Communicate with your teammate constantly ("Mine!" or "Yours!"). Use lobs to reset from defense to offense, angles to stretch opponents, and occasionally use the "I-formation" to apply return-of-serve pressure.
Practice: Start with mini-rallies at the net and progress to directional drills (cross-court vs. down-the-line).
Data: Doubles tennis match first serve percentage is 68%, which is higher than the roughly 60% seen in singles. Doubles players prioritize consistency to set up their net partner, rather than risking big serves for aces. This tactic yields a 74% win rate on first serves, contrasted with a 54% win rate on second serves in doubles.
 

Week 7: Lob

The lob shot is a vital defensive and offensive tactic when playing a tennis match. It allows players to take control of a point by forcing their opponents to shift from an attacking position to a defensive one. The lob counters aggressive net approaches with high-percentage returns that exploit the opponent's positioning. 

Lobs excel in forcing defensive play, but rarely end in points outright for the hitter.

To learn how to hit the lob effectively, use a continental grip and an open stance. Focus on a high-to-high swing path that lifts the ball over the net with topspin for added safety. It's important to refine the lob stroke, ensuring proper shoulder rotation and follow-through.

This maximizes both height and depth of the lob while building the player's confidence to regain an offensive position.
Data: An estimated under 1% overall, or roughly 2–5 lobs per match, are hit on average. 

Overall, the point-winning percentage for the player hitting the lob hovers around 30–40%, but is higher than riskier options like hitting passing shots (~40%) from a defensive position.