Should My Child Participate In Tennis Tournaments?
I stumbled across your site by accident while trying to find tips to help my 11 year old daughter (12 in April).
She first picked up the racquet about 18 months ago and fell in love with tennis. We aren’t rich, but managed to get her a coach – he was quite young and she started to hit the ball over the net quite nicely.
He suggested that she enter some tournaments – so we entered her for some – it was a rude awakening.
She hadn’t been taught to serve and was playing against girls who had already been playing for 4-5 years… She lost every match 6-0 6-1. Out of 40 matches she won 4.
We decided that it was pointless putting her in matches until she could serve – so stopped entering tournaments and changed coach. She has played in a few tournaments recently and has done quite well – but her serve is still a huge problem.
She double faults regularly – sometime 2 or 3 a game. She is also finding it difficult to cope with the power of some of the other girls.
My question is – should she actually be competing in tournaments now…? Isn’t it better to wait until you have full confidence in your shots before competing?
Her coach seems to think that she will magically find her serve in a match situation – but this isn’t happening and it is eroding her self-confidence very quickly.
Thanks for the email and good question.
What you describe is a common problem with those kids who start a little late (compared to other top competitive juniors) or don’t practice that much (maybe just 2 or 3 times per week).
Let’s first talk about competition: My FIRST question when parents bring the child to me for practice is: “What are your goals?”
If you just want the kid to learn tennis and enjoy when she is an adult, then DON’T take her to the tournaments. She doesn’t practice enough and good players will destroy her.
And you’ll NEVER be able to convince your child that it’s because they practice more.
She will feel that something is WRONG with her. And hate to see that in kids hearts.
It’s not true but that’s the belief that will form eventually.
What many parents also say is that it’s up to her – whether she wants to play tournaments and how much she wants to play.
My answer is, that the child has NO IDEA about the consequences of this or that decision. YOU have to make one.
Serious competitive tennis or not?
If yes, then you have to practice a lot. Not necessarily tennis all the time but many hours per day of various physical activities that will develop skills needed for high level tennis.
And regarding her serve: yes, take time off and practice the serve in non-competitive situations. Eventually she will have to use it in matches too.
When you mention her confidence, then in reality it’s like this: the CHILD knows that she can hit well in practice but cannot hit well in matches.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to become totally confident in training and then believe that it will work the same way in a match.
Again, eventually she will have to trust her shots in a match too, so once her coach decides that her strokes are consistent enough, she can play a few tournaments to test them in real situations.
At this age of course you still have at least 6 to 8 years of tweaking and improving the strokes.
- Related posts:
March 1st, 2008 at 1:13 pm
i have a problem with my serve i was tought to serve like serena williams because my coach asked me how serve i think is probly the best i chose hers. but i can get the trough up and angle right can u please tell me how tto get it right and what i am doing wrong
[Reply]
March 1st, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Hi Richard,
Hard to say if I don’t see your serve but most likely you just lack practice. Hitting a reasonably fast serve into that small service box takes a lot of practice…
[Reply]
June 17th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Hi Tomaz,
My daughter is 10. We are living in eastern Europe and she make tennis training, like Slovenians, 6 time a week plus 3 time per week physical and soccer. It is not enough competitions for 10 years old in our region and she took part in some G12. But she loose in the first/second match. How many tournament do you recommend her to take part per year or per month.
[Reply]
June 17th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Hi Arkadi,
She should play around 20 tournaments per year at this age. Although you must try to find the appropriate level for her so that she wins at least 40% of matches. Preferrably around 60%…
If you cannot find official matches, have her play practice matches with players of the same level. Also, don’t neglect having her play with an ocassional lower level player and ocassional higher level player.
[Reply]
September 9th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
You guys need to become leftys. I’m lefty and win 69% of my tournaments. I am only twelve but I serve over 105 miles per hour. I normally practice 15 minutes a day 6 times a week. The reason why I win is because I pratice against sophmores even though I am in 7th Grade.
[Reply]
May 6th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Dear Tennis Thoughts,
this is not 100% related to your article, but I am wondering if that is of any interest to you and your readers:
Is the USTA discriminating with a tournament rule “English only on the court”?
We are raising our children in a way that they understand treating other kids different based on their ethnic background is just wrong. Tennis is an international sport and we need to accept the fact that there are players from different ethnic backgrounds. What would you say, if we discriminate our own youngsters by setting rules that kids are not allowed to speak in their native language. We are enforcing juniors in the US with a “English only policy” and if they use a different language we penalize them. So for me to make a difference starts right at our own doorsteps. Please read further at:
http://ustennisparents.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/is-there-usta-discrimination-against-our-juniors/
[Reply]
March 23rd, 2010 at 3:23 pm
she must play tournaments if you want to judge a player confidence you have to see his matches.most of the player are very good on practice but they cant play in matches.if you want to make him professional tennis player she has to play tournaments but in the begining if she loses dont worry about results but her attitude,confidence and how much she is focus.
[Reply]
July 4th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
My daughter is 10 years old, has been taking group lessons for a year, and likes tennis a lot. She has just started learning to serve from the baseline over the last few weeks. This week, we just tried out a new (more serious) group lesson and she really liked it. But the instructor there asked her to try serving with a continental grip and pronating on a flat serve.
I had thought that this was taught to kids when they got a bit older (maybe 12-13). But is it okay to teach her the “real” serves (flat with pronation, slice, and kick) this early?
As of now, she just serves with the Eastern forehand grip. But is it better to switch now, so she doesn’t have to start over down the road?
Thanks!
[Reply]
Tomaz Reply:
July 6th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Hi ICaleb,
It depends how well the rhythm of the serve is. If the kid has a good rhythm of the serve and can hit the ball fast when most of the body parts are coordinated and she holds a forehand grip, then I would also start to change to continental.
But if she cannot hit well even with the forehand grip, then I would look to develop the general movement first so that she can generate power and would later change to continental.
If she is taught continental too early, she will not hit fast. Rather she will try to do the “correct technique” and that will break down the fluid movement.
[Reply]
July 6th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Tomaz,
Thanks for the reply. That makes a lot of sense. I do think she could use some more coordination and speed (probably in that order). I appreciate your advice.
[Reply]