The equipment needed for this session is hoops and table tennis balls. In the first part the hoops are used. The following drills can be used:
- The children wheel the hoops by their side while running from one side of the room to the other.
- The children hold the hoops parallel to the floor at a height of 30-40cm jumping in and out of them with their feet joined and the knees high.
- They throw the hoops high above them and as they fall they try to get into them.
In the second part, the coach uses the table tennis rackets and balls. The coach can have the children do balance drills with the ball on the racket. The children see how long they can keep the ball still on the racket. The coach can then proceed with the wall exercise from the previous session. If the coach wants to make this drill more difficult he draws a line with chalk on the wall and at a height of 100-150cm, so that the ball will strike the wall over the marked height. The children must use both sides of the racket. The following step is to draw circles on the wall with a diameter of 40cm and at a height of 150cm. The children do the wall drill, but this time aiming at the center of the circle. During the session the coach checks that they are using the correct grip and little by little he starts correcting their arm movements. In the first stage, the ball strikes the floor before it is hit with the racket. In the second stage, the ball is hit before it bounces. The coach must pay great attention to the children's body movements. The mistakes must be corrected immediately. All the drills from the second part of the session can be done in pairs, to add a sense of competition.
Source: Table Tennis: From A to Z e-book