When coaching 5-6 year old kids, about 50% of your time should be on fun drills and 50% of your time should be on structured training.

When coaching more serious players, about 5% of your time should be on fun drill and 95% of your time should be on structured training.
Unless they are developing bad habits, fun drills can also be a means of improvement by adding more dexterity and more concentration!

 
 
 
 
Congrats to 6-year-old Fiona Dubina for becoming the SDTTA January Student of the Month.  Fiona earned the award for doing a 94 hit footwork drill on wide angle shots combining both backhand and forehand.  Fiona will be featured on TV (Cleveland 19 WOIO TV) next week.  I'll post the exact time that the clip will be featured.
Keep working hard Fiona!