QuickStart tennis, better known as 10 & Under tennis, its not really a new topic or idea but more of a new trend. It has now been around for close to ten years in the US and for 25 around the world. It is a standard, comprehensive, & dynamic way of teaching tennis to young kids. Its large success has been seen all over the world and its only picking up steam especially in the US.
What is needed for 10 & Under?
A great passion to having FUN! That's what it is all about; an opportunity to have kids become more engaged in their practices allowing them longevity in the sport. Besides the FUN aspect, you do need a couple of things, a tennis court, racket and a ball. No different than what we use to do as kids right? This is where it differs. Do you remember when you had to chase down balls because they come streaming passed you, or even better, when you had to fetch the ball from the woods because your buddy couldn't control his strength and hit it over the fence? This element has been pretty much removed from the game. With smaller courts, rackets & compression balls kids are able to maintain longer rallies which engages them more and more. Let's face it, when you go play tennis, you want to hit the ball most of the time and pick them up as little as possible not the other way around. Granted, if you still want to be Babe Ruth and crank one out of the "park" then by all means GO LONG!
What is this? Miniature tennis?!
OK, so you're asking yourself what are these smaller courts, rackets and compression balls or maybe you know already. Let's do 10 & Under tennis 101 real quick.
-Court
3 different types of court. A 36', 60' & your regulation court 78' court. These will be used with various compression balls which I will get to below.
-Smaller rackets
Rackets have come in smaller sizes 19" to 27" for years. The difference now is the promotion of this rackets and the importance racket companies have put into these "sticks" as they are now made from Graphite and not cheaper materials.
-3 different kinds of balls
Stage 3 balls (Red)- 36', Stage 2 balls (Orange)- 60', Stage 1 balls (Green Dot) - 78'
Now that we have the general 101 studies out of the way, let's move to a philosophy course!
"Old School" Train of thought
"Agassi never played with compression balls and smaller courts and he had a full size wooden racket!"
"New School"
"Henry Ford was an innovator but he never drove a 450 horse power v12 engine 0-60 in less than 4 sec"
So Where is the disconnect?
Coaches that are stuck on their ways saying such comments like the one I proposed about Agassi forget one simple concept in life, Things change! The nature of life and that of business is evolution. Henry Ford was a great thinker, innovator & business man. If he were here now in the 21st century he would come up with a new vehicle that was faster, cleaner, & better than what we have on the roads now. This is how innovators think. There will always be a better way to connect to players in order to relay the information for the sake of their development. Remember that a good coach is one that adapts to the player not the other way around. So, coaches adapt to the game that has molded and adapted to the player.
OK, how do we do this?
1) Read
2) Educate
3) Practice
Coaches need to Read up on what is new & improved out there. Due your diligence to read up on new trends on the sport. It is amazing how much it has changed during the past 10 years from the time of linear big ball boy to now, linear and lateral big boy ball. Educate yourself by going to conferences, seminars, webinars etc. This is a great time to associate yourself with others in the field who might be doing things different and are getting great results. Practice these things in your club or academy. This is how you will develop as a great coach and your players as successful tennis participants. Something I believe in very strongly:
"You can't teach what you don't know!"
Win Win for All
Kids are storming to 10 & Under tennis like never before. We haven't see a tennis boom like this since the 70s. With great ambassadors of the game like Federer, Nadal, & now Djokovic the game has reached its Golden Age. Even The First Lady, Michelle Obama, has gotten into the act sponsoring 10 & Under tennis. Kids want to play tennis and not fetch. The success I and others have seen is tremendous with kids having longer rallies and bigger smiles. They are staying in the game longer and are having great success with it. Get involved in the game, the right game for younger kids!
Life is a sport, there are winners and losers. Those who adjust their game will be the victors and those who don't well, let's just say they will be left behind.
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