Floor Tennis Game Pack

Net and wall games ask young students to solve three problems at once, and most of them end up solving none.

Where is my opponent. Where is the open space. How do I get the ball there. Those are the questions you actually want students thinking about. But before they can get to any of them, they have to track a flighted object through the air, move their feet to meet it, and time a racquet swing well enough to make contact. The tactical thinking gets buried under the mechanics, and the students who need the tactics most are usually the ones still fighting the mechanics.

Floor Tennis takes the flight out. A length of tape stretched between two cones replaces the net, with a gap underneath, and the ball stays on the floor for the whole game. Suddenly the timing problem is gone and the tactical question is standing there on its own. A student who cannot yet rally a shuttlecock can absolutely work out where their opponent is not.

🏸 Build One: Partner Rallies. Partners work together rather than against each other, counting how many times they can send and receive without the ball stopping. This is where the contacts happen and where you match your equipment to your group.

🎯 Build Two: Floor Tennis. Partners become opponents. A point is scored when the ball rolls all the way across the opponent's back boundary line.

🚩 Build Three: Target Gates. Three gates on each back line, with the outside thirds worth double the centre. The weighted scoring does the teaching for you, because students quickly work out that pulling an opponent to one side opens up the far corner.

The pack includes the full game, all three builds with their diagrams, learning targets, discussion questions, assessment ideas, and teacher notes for each build.

Happy Teaching!