SOFT TENNIS

ソフトテニス

SPORTS HANDBOOK
Aliyah Gabrielle M. Llamelo
11- Euclid
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
01
02 What is Soft tennis?

03 Court and equipments

04 Soft tennis rules

05 Grip

06 Stances

07 8 basic shots

08 Swings
01 Purpose

The purpose of this Soft Tennis manual is to give a clear and user-friendly
guidance for anybody interested in learning and playing Soft Tennis. The
handbook's goals is to:
Explain the fundamental concept, history, and major elements of Soft
Tennis as a sport.
Rules and Regulations: Provide a clear description of the Soft Tennis
rules and regulations, including scoring, court size, and equipment. and
gameplay standards.
Cover the fundamental skills and techniques needed to play Soft Tennis

INTRODUCTION
efficiently, such as grip, stroke mechanics, footwork, serving, and rallying.
Game methods: Discuss tactical aspects of Soft Tennis, such as shot
selection, court posture, and doubles teamwork methods.

This soft tennis handbook can be helpful to beginners who are new to Soft
Tennis and want a succinct and easy-to-understand guide to help them
understand the sport's basic rules, methods, and skills. To casual players who
play for fun and leisure and want a quick reference guide to improve their
understanding and enjoyment of the game. Also to students in school or
college who are introduced to Soft Tennis as part of their physical
education curriculum or extracurricular activities and require a simplified
manual to comprehend the fundamentals of the sport.

Soft Tennis has several significant advantages and benefits for people who
play it.
Soft Tennis offers a more accessible and inclusive alternative to
traditional tennis. The use of a soft rubber ball and lighter rackets makes
it easier for players of all ages and skill levels to participate. The
modified equipment reduces the risk of injuries and allows for a wider
range of players to enjoy the sport.
It helps develop various skills, including hand-eye coordination, agility,
footwork, and timing. Players learn to control the soft rubber ball and
execute different strokes and techniques, improving their motor skills and
overall athleticism.
Soft Tennis provides opportunities for social interaction and teamwork.
Whether playing in doubles or team competitions, Soft Tennis fosters
camaraderie, communication, and cooperation among players. It offers
a platform for individuals to connect, build relationships, and enjoy the
sport together.
And like any physical activity, Soft Tennis contributes to improved fitness
and overall health. It involves dynamic movements, running, and bursts of
energy, which help increase cardiovascular endurance, muscular
strength, and flexibility. Regular participation in Soft Tennis can
contribute to a more active and healthy lifestyle.
Soft Tennis fosters ideals like fair play, respect, and sportsmanship.
Players learn to play by the rules, respect their opponents, and manage
victory and defeat with grace and humility. Soft Tennis instills vital life
skills and character traits by encouraging discipline, tenacity, and self-
improvement.
It provides people of all backgrounds with the opportunity to participate in
a vibrant and exciting sport.
02
WHAT IS
SOFT TENNIS?
Soft tennis is a sport similar to lawn tennis,
however it is played with a softer ball rather
than the hard yellow ball used in lawn tennis
and lighter, looser-strung racquets. The sport
began in Japan in 1884, when softballs were
preferred over harder balls. The sport is
currently prevalent in Asia and has gained some
popularity in Europe.

Soft tennis' key draws are its easier learning

curve and longer rallies. The majority of these
benefits stem from the soft-tennis ball, which
weighs 30-31 grams, just over half the 56-59.4
grams of a standard tennis ball, but has the
same diameter, 6.6 cm. The soft-tennis ball has
significantly greater air resistance than a tennis
ball, so it flies more slowly, making it simpler to
The sport is available in both singles and
run down, with more time to complete a stroke
doubles formats. The court dimensions are
and less likelihood of hitting it too far. Longer
identical to lawn tennis, with markings for
rallies make the game easier to play, especially
singles and doubles courts.
for novices, and provide better workout at all
levels.
The gameplay is similar to that of lawn tennis,
with a serve followed by back and forth
The lighter soft-tennis ball is also much easier
returns. The serve must land diagonally
on the arm, as racquet-ball collisions cause less
opposite the box where the player is serving.
stress and torque as ball weight and speed
Balls are only permitted to bounce once
decrease. This advantage is mitigated partially
before being returned. Players receive points
by the lighter racquets used for soft tennis, if their opponents are unable to return the
which weigh roughly 8.5 ounces, but many ball inbounds.
ordinary tennis racquets are equally light, and
soft-tennis racquets are strung looser, which The scoring and game play are same in lawn
helps decrease the effects of shock. For soft tennis, where matches are played in a three-
tennis, several players utilize heavier tennis set format, with the first person or team to win
racquets; the rules do not stipulate racquet two sets win the match.
weights.

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03
COURT AND EQUIPMENTS
COURT
(Surface of Court and Outcourt) The surface of a court and outcourt is clay,
artificial grass, all-weather chemical for the outdoor court, and for the
indoor court, the surface shall be wooden, sanded artificial grass, hard
rubber, chemical or other appropriate materials.
(Court ) The court for doubles shall be a rectangular space, which shall be
surrounded by lines (the lines are part of the court), of 23.77m (78 feet) in
length and 10.97m (36 feet) in width, and it shall be divided into two equal
portions by the net.
(Umpire’s Chair) The umpire’s chair shall be 1.5m in height in principle and
be placed in an out court, 60cm apart (at the nearest part of the chair)
from the net post.

NET
(Net Post) The net post shall be not less than 7.5cm and not more than 15cm
in diameter.
(Net) The specifications of the net shall be as undermentioned. (Color):
Black, (Height) : 1.07m In the case where the facility conditions do not
permit this height, the height shall be allowed to be less than 1.07m, but not
less than 1.06m., (Length) : 12.65m, (Meshes) : Not more than 3.5cm in
square, (Metal Cord) : 15m in length and 4.5cm in diameter, as standard
specifications. The top of a net and the metal cord shall be covered with a
white cloth band of 5cm to 6cm in width. Both ends of a net shall be kept
touching to the net posts and the lowest part of the net to the ground.

BALL & RACKET

(Ball) The ball shall be rubber-made, air-filled, and its color shall be white.
The bounce of the ball shall be not less than 75cm and not more than 80cm
from the ground when dropped from a height of 1.5m upon the court.
(Weight): not less than 30g and not more than 31g. (Diameter): 6.6cm.
(Racket): The racket shall be designed to achieve the same effect at both
faces of the racket. Its flame shall be strung with strings practicably under
the same compression to arrange the strung faces where balls are struck to
be flat. The frame of a racket shall be allowed to be of any material and
weight, and in any size and shape. The strings shall be fixed to the flame of
a racket and crossed each other. The strings shall not be of specifications
which may provide a ball with excessive variations in flying.

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04
SOFT TENNIS RULES
Service Rules

The serving rules in soft tennis are as follows:

The competition begins with a coin toss, and

the winner chooses whether to serve or
receive first, as well as which end to play in
initially.
Scoring System
Throughout the game, the service must be
made from behind the baseline and from the The scoring methods are as follows:
opposite side of the center line, beginning
on the right. Singles matches are best of seven games,
The ball must be returned by the receiver while doubles matches are best of nine. The
before it has bounced twice in his side of the match is won by the team that wins four
court. games in singles and five games in doubles
Each game's service is changed after two first.
points. The game is won by the first individual or
team to score four points.
If the score is three or four all (games), a tie-
break determines the winner.
If the score reaches three all, it is referred to
as a "deuce," and the game is continued until
either player/side scores the next two points
consistently.

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05
GRIP
Grip is defined as the way you hold the racquet while
hitting a soft tennis shot. A tennis racquet handle has
an octagonal shape, and each side (also called
bevel) is numbered from 1 to 8. Usually, a specific grip
is characterized by which bevel the base of your index
finger lays on. Some grips will give you more power
while others will give you more spin, so you can choose
the one that better fits your game. There are currently
3 main forehand grips: Eastern, Semi-Western, and
Western.

Eastern grip is identified when the base of the player’s

index finger lays on bevel #3. In order to find this grip,
you can hold your racket perpendicular to the floor
and then hold it like you were giving it a handshake.
Then, all you need to do is rotate your hand one bevel
to the right if you’re right-handed or one to the left if
you’re left-handed. If you do this right, you should end
up with the base of your index finger on bevel #3.
Eastern forehand grip is great if you play mostly on
fast surfaces, since it allows you to hit flat shots and to
quickly switch grips between forehand and serves or
slices.

Western Grip, In order to hit it, your index finger Semi Western Forehand grip is located one
should be laying on bevel #5. It is on the end of the rotation after the Eastern grip, which means that
forehand spectrum, and it may seem weird at first. In the base of your index finger should be on bevel
order to hold it correctly, you should hold the racket #4. This grip is probably the most popular forehand
perpendicular to the floor with your non-dominant grip among professional players, as it is an all-
hand, grip it with your dominant hand as if giving it a surface grip. In order to hold it correctly, you should
handshake, and rotate your hand 3 bevels (to the right hold the racket perpendicular to the floor with your
if right-handed, to the left if left-handed). When you non-dominant hand, grip it with your dominant hand
do that, the base of your index finger should lay on as if giving it a handshake, and rotate your hand 2
bevel #5. bevels (to the right if right-handed, to the left if
left-handed).
More you rotate the racket, the easier it is to add When compared to the Eastern grip, the Semi-
topspin to your forehand. As such, this grip is ideal for Western grip allows players to add much more
players who have a solid baseline game and play on topspin, while adding less stress to the player’s wrist.
slow courts that require a lot of topspin. However, it The drawback of using this grip is that it can be
also becomes even more difficult to change grips and slightly challenging to hit shots close to the ground
to hit shots close to the ground. This is also a fairly and to change your grip quickly.
popular grip among tennis players.

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 06
STANCES
There are 3 main ones: Open Stance, Semi-Open Stance,
and Neutral Stance. Differently from a forehand grip
(where you should stick to just one), you will be using all 3
forehand stances during a tennis match.
Semi-Open Stance
Forehand semi-open stance is similar to the open
stance, but it is considered slightly more aggressive.
Open stance
Open stance forehand is the most commonly used This position is great as it is fairly quick to set up but
stance for defensive shots. The preparation for the allows the player to transition from a defensive
open stance is significantly faster than the other position to an aggressive one.
two stances, which makes it ideal to return fast This is the best stance for all surfaces, as it’s very
shots. In addition to that, this stance allows for a dynamic. When preparing for the semi-open stance,
much faster recovery, as all the player needs to do your front foot should be positioned diagonally to
is cross the outside foot in front of the inside foot your back foot. If you draw an imaginary circle
and head back to the middle. around your hips, your back foot would be on the “3
The forehand open stance is executed when both o’clock” position, and your front foot would be on the
feet are horizontally aligned. If you draw an “12 o’clock” one (forming a 90-degree angle).
imaginary circle around your hips, your feet would Your bodyweight should be between both feet,
be positioned at a 180-degree angle. You should transitioning from back to front as you hit the shot.
notice that most of the player’s weight is on the This way you will be able to use your body weight for
outside foot (right foot for right-handers, left for the forehand, which will translate into a more
left-handers). Your knees should be bent according powerful and aggressive shot.
to the ball, as lower balls will require a greater
bend. Once your feet are properly aligned, all you
need to do is rotate your hips and shoulders about Neutral Stance
90 degrees and swing through the ball. Make sure Forehand neutral stance is probably the most
you keep your non-dominant hand pointing at the aggressive of all stances. In this stance, your front
ball until the last second so you do not end up foot is positioned directly in front of your back foot,
rotating your torso too early. And after hitting the forming an angle close to 0 degrees.
ball you may choose to cross the outside leg over Most of the bodyweight in this stance is centered on
the inside one in order to recover faster. the front leg, which allows the player to generate a
lot of power. The neutral stance is used mostly for
short balls. Since you end up moving forward after
the shot, this stance is used when the player wants to
get to the net faster.
Since this stance requires the player to put one leg in
front of the other, it can be somewhat slow to set up.
For this reason, it is not considered a great defensive
stance.

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 07

8 BASIC SHOTS
The 8 basic shots in soft tennis are the serve, return,
forehand, backhand, slice, forehand volley, backhand
volley, and overhead. Beginners must become
comfortable with these 8 shots before they can be
considered intermediate players and learn new,
advanced skills.

Serve – The serve is one of the most important skills to develop. For it is the only shot in which you have
absolute control over it and a good serve will give you an edge compared to your opponents.
Serve is the stroke that begins every single shot in a tennis match. While one player is serving, the other is
receiving, and they take turns after the end of every game. Serves can take different shapes and forms, but
it’s a move where the player swings the racket above his head, while still standing behind the baseline.
At the start of each new game, the player who is serving begins at the right side of the court divider and
needs to serve the ball across the court and over the net to the service box on his left side. After the point is
played, the player who is serving needs to start the new point at the left side of the court divider and serve
towards the service box on his right side. The player keeps alternating sides until the game is over.
If the player happens to step on the line while serving it is considered a “foot fault” and the serve will be
counted as a miss.
Players can add different spins to their serves, which will characterize the serve as either a flat, slice, or kick
serve. Depending on the where the serve lands inside the service box, it will be called either a wide, body, or
T serve. Furthermore, players may use an underhand serve and is accepted but it's seen unethical until
recently.

Return - After the serve, next is return. Returns are

especially important when your opponent is not a
great server since you can fully take advantage of
that weakness. Return is a shot where one player waits
to see where the other player’s serve lands and then
attempts to hit the ball back to the other side. A return
can be executed in several different ways, with a
forehand, backhand, slice, block, or chip. The most
important aspect of a return is just getting the ball
back to the other side.
Groundstrokes
They’re the foundation of every tennis player’s game,
and you will spend the majority of time practicing them.
They are the ones that make tennis games enjoyable to
watch and are probably the first thing you will learn
when you start playing soft tennis.

Forehand
Forehands are, for the vast majority of players, their
strongest weapon. A player hits a forehand when he
allows the ball to bounce once on his court before
hitting it, and hits it with his dominant side.

The reason why forehands are called forehands is

because normally, the front (fore) of your hand holding
the racquet will be facing your opponent. For right-
handed players, a forehand is executed on the right
side. For left-handed players, it is executed on the left
side.

Backhand
The backhand is another one of the main shots in a soft
tennis game. It is the equivalent of the forehand but
executed on the player’s non-dominant side. For
instance, if a player is right-handed, the backhand will
be executed on the left side. If a player is left-handed,
the backhand will be executed on the right side.
Backhands can either be one-handed or two-handed.
One-handed backhands generally get more power and
more spin. Two-handed backhands give the player
more control.

Slice
Slice is essentially a variation of the backhand shot.
Instead of hitting the ball on the top, your racquet
swings through the bottom of the ball. That adds
underspin to the shot, so after the ball bounces on the
other side, it stays low and close to the ground.
A slice can be used either on your dominant or your
non-dominant side, but it is most commonly used as a
backhand slice. Players usually use slices in order to
change the pace of the game and add some variation
The three basic shots are part of your net game, which means that

NET GAME
you will hit them without letting the ball touch the ground before
you hit it. These shots are mainly used to finish the point, after you
were able to move your opponent around by hitting successful
groundstrokes. They are also used a lot more frequently during
doubles matches.

Forehand Volley
Forehand volley is a fairly simple movement, in which you use only
one arm to hit a ball by your dominant side, without letting the ball
touch the ground. It requires firm hands and fast reflexes.
Volleys are not used as often as they used to be in the 1990s. As the
game has become increasingly slower, players become too
vulnerable when they go to the net – since their opponents have a
lot more time to react.

Backhand Volley
The backhand volley looks a lot like a backhand slice, but without
letting the ball touch the ground. Once again, a volley usually
occurs when you are standing close to the net. A backhand volley
always happens on your non-dominant side.

Backhand volleys are an important part of your net game since

they will allow you to shorten the points and take time away from
your opponent.

Overhead
Last basic shot you should become comfortable with is the overhead
(also called smash in some countries). You must be standing close to
the net and hit the ball without bouncing. You need to hit the ball
over your head (similarly to a serve), and that is why this shot is
named the way it is.

Overheads are usually used to finish a point, as it is considered a

fairly easy shot in which you can hit it very hard. It is important to
master this shot so you make sure you win those points.
 08

SWINGS
Forehand Swing
steps:
Rotate Torso: Once you have your feet properly
positioned, you should start rotating your torso. You should
do so while keeping your non-dominant hand on the
racket, so you rotate both arms together.
Separate Hands: When your non-dominant shoulder (left
for right-handers, right for left-handers) is facing the ball,
you should begin separating your hands. The hand with
the racket moves back and away from the ball, while the
other hand starts pointing to the ball.
Half-Circle Loop: Your dominant arm should make a half-
circle loop, first raising your hand and then letting it
come down towards the ball. You should raise your hand
somewhere between your ribs and your face (the higher Forehand Follow-Through
the ball, the higher the hand). A proper follow-through will make sure that your
Rotate Torso #2: You should keep the non-dominant hand technique remains correct, that you are hitting the ball
pointing to the ball as long as possible. When your arms in the right spot, and that you minimize the risk of
are wide open (one facing the ball, the other away from injuries.
it), you should start swinging the racket towards the ball. good forehand follow-through will have your non-
Remember to rotate your whole torso, not just the arm. dominant hand catching the racket at about the same
Hit The Ball, Swing Leg Through: The contact with the ball height at your left shoulder. In order to make it easier
should happen in front of your body. Once that happens, to understand, one of my old coaches used to tell
your back leg should begin moving forward. That will beginners that, at the end of each forehand, you
allow you to gather some momentum, putting more weight should try to “kiss the biceps” of your dominant arm. By
into the shot. doing so, you will finish the stroke at the perfect
Follow-Through: Ideally, your swing will end with your left height.
hand catching the racket around your left shoulder.
Back Leg Steps Through: Finally, your back leg will land
either in line with your front leg or ahead of it. The swing
will be officially done then.
 Best Soft Tennis Forehand Tips
These are some of the best tips in order to hit an awesome forehand:

It’s All About The Legs: While it may look like most of your forehand power will come from
a fast swing, the actual power will come from your legs. Work out those legs and make
sure you’re using them well on your forehands.

Use The Right Stance: Don’t get too caught up in using one forehand stance. Tennis is a
game where you need to adapt all the time, so each shot will require a different stance.
It’s all about using the right stance for that specific forehand.

Always Move Forwards: Always try to make sure your body weight is moving forward
when you hit your forehand. That will reduce mistakes at the net and will give you more
power.

Hit It In Front: Try to always make contact with the ball right in front of your body, ideally
at hip height. Don’t let the ball get too high, otherwise, it will become more difficult to
time the shot properly.

Focus On The Whole Shot: Don’t forget to do the proper follow-through!

Faster Is Not Always Better: One big misconception for beginners (and some advanced
players) is that you need to hit your forehand hard in order to win points. That is
completely incorrect, and in most cases, a well-placed forehand will be better than a
fast one.

Change It Up: I’ve always had a pretty decent forehand, but it was not the speed of it
that made it good. I always tried to change things up, like angles, directions, and speed.
That will make your opponent lost, which is a great advantage. So make sure you are
training every single type of forehand out there!

References
https://www.rulesofsport.com/sports/tennis.html
https://mytennishq.com/the-8-basic-tennis-shots-skills-explained/
https://www.tennisct.com/strokes
https://www.softtennis.in/pdf/ruls/Final-Rules.pdf

THANK YOU.