Importance of Practice Wall or Rebound Net for Tennis

Hi all, I was recently coaching an orange ball junior who had just turned 8. He had nice technique on his groundstrokes but out of 72 balls in the basket, he would miss the ball completely, well over half of the basket. This was when I threw or gently hit him the ball and mentioning to not lift his head too early.

I decided to try him out for a few sessions on the practice wall, doing the exercise as shown (on forehand and backhand). After 2 half hour sessions of hitting against the wall, his hand eye coordination, footwork and consistency improved considerably. I then went back to throwing first and then hitting him a gentle ball over the net and he managed to only miss completely 5 shots.

It reminded me of how important a practice wall or rebound net is, I know I used to hit against a wall for hours every day when I was younger and it helped my hand eye coordination as it always took me a while to get things (still does ?).

Maybe give it a go with your students. Thanks