Play to Learn and Learn to Play are Both a Part of Tennis

It wasn’t really that long ago that the QuickStart format of tennis was recognized by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF) as the new standard for kids on a court under the age of ten. It was introduced in 2008 and became the accepted standard in 2012. Interestingly enough, in the initial introduction article on May 25, 2008, the USTA stressed the concept that kids will play to learn instead of learn to play. Thanks to courts, equipment, and scoring becoming more kid friendly, this format was slated to “help children find success from the very first swing.” This was a very ambitious concept as, having spent years with kids on a court, I have never seen a child be successful without at least some guidance and assistance. It was, in my estimation, made out to be the salvation of tennis as a sport for kids who could now play the game without the requisite grip and stroke production guidance, drills, or even any real knowledge of the game we call tennis. I was excited to see tennis kid-sized, but experience told me that the pendulum was swinging too far in one direction. In the same article on the USTA website cited above, they talked about bringing more kids into the game at a young age. The plan was to use this quickstart format of lower nets, smaller courts, and slower, lower-bouncing balls to help foster the development of better skills with proper stroke technique resulting in a more credible and competitive level of U.S. players. We've been way behind the curve of other countries if you look at the men's ATP World Tour and are familiar with hearing names such as Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, and Murray that represent the nations of Switzerland, Serbia, Spain, and Great Britain.

Bravo to getting more young kids from the U.S. off the soccer fields for a little while and into the game they can play a lifetime. Like the lyric from the song “The Greatest Love of All”, I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way. But let’s not forget that at some point kids still need to be taught proper technique in order to be successful. If the new format would make that happen sooner than later, I was interested as I had been using full-sized courts and regular tennis balls up to that point. I was more than aware of how the high bounce of the standard yellow ball would force some players into bad technique in order to accommodate a ball never designed for their size. That was simply the standard we all accepted. Something struck me though as I pondered the early days of play to learn. I could not help but have visions of Professor Harold Hill and his “think system” from the show The Music Man. Just handing a kid a racquet and thinking that hitting tennis balls-even foam ones-will magically create the foundations of a good player may be a bit idealistic. But on the flip side, expecting kids to get excited about standing in line waiting for a pro to feed them a ball may be even more naive. Kids at a young age are all about two things: themselves, since the world obviously revolves around them, and fun.  Somewhere there was a middle ground, I thought, where I could integrate the skill-based learning, authentic court play, and competitive games that targeted coordination, footwork, stroke production and of course, FUN!

In a recent PTR Junior Development workshop facilitated by Mike Barrell of Evolve 9 (an international coaching company focused on teaching coaches to build better, quality instructional programs for kids under 10) he cautioned the pros in attendance about how tennis for young kids was moving from all technical teaching to no technical teaching. The fear is that this alteration would eventually manifest itself in poor on-court skills and the incorrect perception that the progression of red, orange and green balls do not help increase ability. What I have personally seen, much like the staff at many clubs, is that young 5, 6, and 7 year olds prosper with red felt balls on 36' courts. This has been my main focus for a number of years,  and I utilize the public tennis courts at Gloucester Twp. Community Park that do not yet include blended lines for delineating 36’ Red and 60’ Orange courts from the standard 78’ court. Therefore I create the 36’ x 18’ courts spaces with a combination of caution tape and portable nets along with low-tack tape to create the requisite lines. But the equipment and court dimensions are only one component of the success I have seen in the abilities of these young players. Since we move quickly from drill, to game, to footwork, to activities that don't even require a racquet, kids are engaged and active almost non-stop. Anyone who knows 5-7 year olds are well aware of their relatively short attention span. But why must tennis programs on the court be structured with kids having all the fun and parents hanging behind the fences with their smartphone cameras? This is afterall a family sport requiring little investment in equipment (and no investment in my programs for which I provide all equipment) and can easily be enjoyed on publicly available tennis courts. Therefore, I was convinced that part of keeping the kids engaged as tennis players into the FUTURE was to engage their parents in the PRESENT. This is why every one of my group sessions includes parent participation in some way. This always leads to my head-scratcher moments when I cannot determine whether the parents or kids had the most fun during that session. This is not a bad dilemma to have in youth sports, and  it is something quite unique indeed.

How fast a kid shows progress, and how quickly they meet the core competencies for their age bracket, is totally related to how often they strike the ball from week-to-week and under what guidance. My programs, held once a week in Gloucester Twp. Community Park, are not really designed to create champions. If a child has that kind of motivation, a more structured albeit more costly competitive environment may be more appropriate. Their time on the court (including private or semi-private instruction) needs to probably double or triple if their plan is high school or college tennis or beyond. I like to think of my group programs as more of a snapshot or sampling of tennis that displays the kind of fun and exercise it can provide. By utilizing the red foam, red felt, and orange felt progression associated with what the the USTA has titled "10 and Under Tennis", I believe I’m helping to build a solid foundation that both kids and parents together may want to pursue in the future. I truly believe that families gain a wonderful gift through the sport of tennis-the gift of directly spending time with their loved ones as a participant and not just a bystander-and I work diligently each session to develop a comfort level and love of the sport that, together, they will hopefully take with them well beyond my programs.

Ron Miller is a PTR Junior Certified tennis instructor who teaches group and private lessons for kids and adults through Gloucester Township Recreation in the SJ area. His website and podcast (in iTunes) provide free instructional content for beginners to advanced players.