Soccer Tennis
Two teams of three trade volleys over a small court — one bounce and two touches to get it back across, scored like tennis.
Volleys and balls out of the air — judging and controlling the flighted ball — inside a game the older kids will love, playable virtually anywhere.
Starting at Core — your team is set to mixed.
20 min tonight · Two teams of 3
- Ages 10+
- Two teams of 3
- 20 min as the drill is written
- Cones, tall cones, balls
Grab Flat cones for the lines, the tall cones, and a ball.
Build Build a court 12 by 24 yards — two 12-yard squares. Size it up or down for your numbers and their age.
Place A team of three on each square; the serving team's server starts behind their back line with the ball.
- 1
Organize the players
Make teams of three and give each team one square of the court.
“Three on this side, three on that side — your square is your court.”
- 2
Show the jobs
Walk the serve and the return — the server volleys or half-volleys the ball over from behind the back line; the receiving team can let it bounce once and use up to two touches to play it back, though it doesn't have to bounce and can go back in one touch.
“Serve it over — volley or half-volley. Coming back? One bounce, two touches — or take it straight out of the air.”
- 3
Play
Play points — a ball that touches the ground twice or gets knocked out of the court is a point for the serving team. Keep score just as you would in tennis, and let them experiment with controlling and judging the flighted balls.
“Judge it early — get set before it lands!”
Look for The judgment — a receiver reading the flight and set early, not scrambling after the bounce.
- 4
Switch and repeat
Keep score just as you would in tennis, game after game. Between games, adjust the touch and bounce limits to the skill level in front of you.
“Game! New server — and let's tighten the touches this round.”
If the rallies never start, loosen the bounce and touch limits until the ball keeps coming back — then tighten them again as the skill shows.
Go deeper · 2 notes
Why it works
Every ball arrives out of the air, so every touch is judgment — where it will land, when to volley, how to cushion two touches into a return — and the tennis frame turns all that experimenting into a game the older kids love.
What they learn
Volleys and half-volleys, first touch, and controlling and judging flighted balls.
Where does this come from?
SoccerXpert — their published drill library.
A published drill library. Useful and widely used, but not a governing body — so it fills gaps rather than leading.