King of the court

Setup

1. Orange balls on a ¾ court for 8–10s; green balls on the full court for older or stronger players.
2. One player starts as the king on the king's side. Everyone else queues behind the challengers' baseline.
3. The coach stands by the net post on the challengers' side with the basket.

How it runs

1. The coach feeds a ball to the first challenger, who hits it in to start the point.
2. Play the point out: one bounce only, normal lines.
3. If the king wins, the king scores a point and stays. The challenger goes to the back of the queue.
4. If the challenger wins, they run round to the king's side and the old king joins the queue.
5. The first king to 5 points wins the round. Reset scores and play again.

Coaching points

• Challengers: start the point with a safe, deep ball, not a winner.
• King: recover to the middle of the baseline after every shot.
• Move quickly between points so everyone gets lots of hits.
• Make your own line calls, out loud and fair.

Common mistakes

• Going for big winners and missing the first ball.
• Slow changeovers, so the queue stands still.
• Arguing over close calls; if in doubt, it's in.