Mini Tennis Team Rallies
(presented by Mark Tennant, ITF)

What is Team Rallies?

Team rallies are a simple, cooperative rally format for Mini Tennis players. The event aims to improve consistency and accuracy of groundstrokes whilst easing children in to competition in a fun but focused way.

Organiser tips

COURTS AND PLAYERS: Place a net down the length of a full court then create 6 rally tracks across the width of the court (see next page). Place targets on each side of every court for the players to aim for (make circular targets that are approximately 1.5m wide).

Split players into 2 teams of 6 (Yellow and Red). This can easily work with more or less players.

SCORING: Players rally with a person in their team for 2 minutes. Every time the pair land a ball in the accuracy targets placed on the court (see next page) they score 1. At the end of each round the organiser asks each pair for their score. The organiser adds the scores from the Yellow team together and the scores from the Red team, the team with the most points wins a cone for their team hoop.

Players will need teenagers or adults to help count and organise rotations.

SCORESHEETS: Cones are awarded to the team with the highest score in each round.

Activity

ORDER OF PLAY: Players start by rallying with any player from their own team. After each round, players rally with a player they have not yet rallied with. Play 5 rounds so that all players play with every other person in their team.

AT THE END: The winning team is the one with most cones in their team hoop.

Adapt the Format

Many formats can easily be adapted to suit players aged under 10, mixed ages, teams and to be a more or less competitive event.

Download ‘ADAPTING COMPETITION’ for a quick and easy guide to adapting this format to suit your needs.

Themes

Many competitions are more fun and easier to promote if they have a theme such as Davis Cup, Olympics or Family Day attached.

Download ‘ADDING THEMES’ for ideas.

Court Layout

After each round, all players stay on their team’s side of the court but rally with a player they have not yet rallied with.

 

Scoresheet

No scoresheet is needed. Winning players at the end of each round place a cone into their team hoop. The team with the most cones at the end is the winner.