Junior Tennis Guidance
One of the toughest things is deciding where your child, or children, should go for their training and coaching. Even when you have committed to a centre and its programme, it’s difficult to know if the service that you and your child are receiving is right for them and the best available.
Even if you do not have high-level tennis knowledge, don’t forget your good solid parental instincts:
- Is your child enjoying themselves?
- Do they like going?
- Do they seem to be getting better?
- Do the coaches seem professional and reliable?
In order to improve it is important to be in the right coaching and training environment.An ideal coach is one who can:
- inspire the children
- introduce players to competition
- create a fun and challenging environment
- teach the basics of the game
The coach should be hold a current LTA coaching Licence, and be fully up to date with the methods of teaching young kids. As well as providing the players with the fundamentals they will, as the children improve, take an active interest in their development through keeping a good communication link with the parents, helping in the planning of tournament schedules and training goals and go to competitions to watch some matches.
This will serve as a confidence boost for the player and allow the coach to assess how they are improving and developing. If your child is just taking up tennis at this age or is moving into this age group from a mini tennis programme then I would have a look for the following areas:
How many players per court?
In mini tennis I would prefer a good coach pupil ratio in favour of lots of space, once the kids are a bit older having a bit of space to play in becomes more important.
It obviously will vary depending on the facilities available, but 1 coach taking 8 players on 2 courts is great. I would prefer this to 1 coach taking 6 players on 1 court.
Is there more on offer than just a one hour coaching session?
This is the age where tennis should be becoming an important part of your child’s life and they should be developing an independent love of playing the game.
This is not going to happen if all that they do is go for a 1 hour coaching session every week. I would look for centres that offer longer sessions, perhaps where coaching is combined with matchplay sessions.
I would also look for a range of additional options that your child can take up during the week such as free practice or social nights.
Are there competitive opportunities?
Coaching is important but if your child is to stay in tennis long-term then playing and competing is more important. Look for a programme where all players are offered regular competitive opportunities at a level that is appropriate for them.
I would steer clear of a club where competition only seems to be something that the best players take part in.
Does the club have a community feel?
Tennis clubs are very healthy places for children and teenagers to be around, in all senses of the word. If you see a club where there is evidence of a community within the junior membership then I would jump at that opportunity.
If the tennis club becomes a place that your child likes to be and hang out with friends as well as a place to train then you will get fantastic value from it.
