How To Play Soccer Tennis

Soccer tennis is not only a fun soccer game you can play with friends, it is also a great activity to help players develop their juggling skills, control skills, and their instincts on the field. If you’re not familiar with soccer tennis, it is a game which combines, you guessed it, soccer and tennis. It’s best played on a tennis court, but can also be played in any space in which you can set up something to act as the net. Let’s take a look at how to play soccer tennis and the benefits of playing soccer tennis in your coaching sessions.

What You Need:

To play soccer tennis, you’re going to need a soccer ball, some small cones to mark off the ‘court’ and something to act as the ‘tennis net’ such as a row of tall cones.

Set Up The Court:

Using the small cones to mark the court boundary, make 10×15 yard grid. Next, place 5/6 tall cones across the center of the court to act as the ‘tennis net’. Make 2 teams of 3/4 players and have one team stand on either side of the court. Provide one soccer ball to one team. Now the game can begin.

How To Play:

To begin the game, one player must ‘serve’ the soccer ball over the net by kicking or throwing the ball to the other side. The other team must then return the ball after just one bounce. Just like tennis, in soccer tennis, if the ball bounces more than once you lose a point. To return the ball, players can use any part of the body that is a legal touch in regular soccer. So that’s feet, knees, thighs, chest, shoulders, but not hands or arms.

The rally continues until the ball goes out of bounds or the ball bounces more than once. Each time it does, the other team wins a point. You can score the game in increments of 15, just like normal tennis, or you can play up to, say, 5/10 points.

Variations:

There are many different variations of soccer tennis that you can play at practice. Here are some of our favorites:

For Beginners: Allow the ball bounce 2 times before returning it to help low level players.
Volleyball Rules: Players can pass the ball between them 3 times before returning the ball over the net.
Left Foot Only: Make it more challenging by making players use their week foot only.
Small Court: Reduce the size of the court to encourage players to use a lighter touch.

Benefits Of Playing Soccer Tennis

Soccer tennis is lots of fun but did you know it also helps to improve lots of important soccer skills? So, there are lots of benefits to playing soccer tennis for players. Soccer tennis helps players to;

Improve their control of the ball.
Improve their spacial awareness.
Focus on working as part of a team.
Improves communication skills.
Improves trapping skills.

Thanks for reading. Now that you know how to play soccer tennis, I hope you have lots of fun playing this awesome game. Before you go, be sure to check out our free soccer drills for more ideas for games and activities you can play at practice.

How To Play Soccer Tennis