Mini 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 starting out or is involved in a mini tennis programme have a look for the following:
Coach to pupil ratio
For me one of the most important things about a mini tennis programme is the coach to pupil ratio. Mini tennis is a big income driver so there is a tendency to pack the programme with players. When this happens, even the best coaches, end up concentrating on controlling the kids rather than teaching them.
I would look for a coach to pupil ratio of 1 to 8. As a coach when I’m working with 8 players I feel that I can teach them, as the number grows I feel that I concentrate on organising them. The other thing to look for is the use of coaches and assistants. Using assistants is great and provides extra hands for feeding balls etc but it should be in addition to the coaching staff not a replacement for them.
What are they doing in the sessions?
As parents it is unlikely that you are going to be in a position to judge the quality of the information that your child is being given, but there are a few things that you should look for.
I would expect the sessions to be physically challenging; by that I mean that the players should be worked hard in terms of effort and the tasks they are set.I would also expect every child in the session to get some one-to-one time with, and feedback from, the coach.
Perhaps the best way to sum it up is are your children being occupied or are they being taught? I would look for a session that is busy, stimulating and fun but that contains improvement.
How many older players are there – and what do they look like?
A lot of centres have thriving mini tennis red (under 8) programmes, but then have very low numbers in their mini tennis green programme (9 and 10yr olds). This, for me, is a definite clue to stay clear, the best evidence of good coaching is retention of players.
Also have a look at the standard of the older players. If they are playing good tennis at 9 and 10yrs old and playing matches unsupervised, that’s a very good sign.
