Find out about:  Anyone for Tennis?

It is the quintessential British summer sport that dominates the headlines during the last two weeks of June. Known for its social yet competitive affiliation, research has shown that tennis is one of the healthiest and least injurious sports children can partake in.

Perhaps due to its social attachment, it is often considered a fun way to perform physical exercise that can often stretch throughout a lifetime.

Research into sports science shows that, in order to enable athletes or team players to reach their full potential as adults, certain physical abilities need to be nurtured at a young age. Physical motions such as running, catching, and throwing are hugely important to the physical development of children under the age of six. On the other hand, speed, balance, co-ordination and agility are attributes that need development in children before they reach their teens.  So, the sooner children are exposed to these capacities the better they will perform as adults, whether they wish to get involved at a competitive or recreational level.

Tennis combines and develops perfectly the physical motions of speed, balance, hand to eye coordination and agility. This makes it a superb sport for any youngster. In addition to the various positive spin-offs, it also challenges a child on two levels: the mental and the emotional. Due to its structure and formality, it teaches self-discipline, respect for the opponent and umpire, and a self-reliance, which can all lead to building self esteem and confidence. 

In addition to this, research shows that children are less likely to be injured whilst playing tennis than in other sports, and, if the progression is a nurturing positive one, it may be a sport that is played throughout a lifetime as a family.

If you would really like your child to pursue tennis in future years, either on a competitive or recreational level, then it is important to realise it is not a sport that children should throw themselves into, too soon. It also helps to balance out the physical development by taking part in other sports such as swimming and martial arts. This promotes a healthy balance and multi-lateral development.

Choosing a well organised child-friendly tennis club is paramount to the blossoming of any passion for tennis in later years. Many clubs offer a variety of activities such as uni-hockey and basketball, which are designed to test physical skills. Clubs should also offer coaching, a tennis award scheme and competitions.

If the club coach discovers that your child is showing a talent in tennis, and if he or she is showing enough passion, enthusiasm and commitment, then you may wish your child to pursue the sport to a more competitive level.  But remember it is takes a lot of hard work to be the next Andy Murray!

The Lawn Tennis Association runs a mini tennis scheme that is designed to nurture and develop tennis in children progressively throughout their developing, formative years.  For simplicity, the Mini Tennis scheme follows a colour-orientated format that allows a child to move from one stage to the next through a transition of rainbow tones.  The tennis balls are coloured to highlight each stage, from red to orange, on to green, and then to yellow.

Red Ball Mini Tennis: This is for players aged 8 and under, played on smaller courts with shorter racquets and softer balls.  A red sponge ball is used indoors and a red felt ball is used outdoors, and the net is lower at a height of 80cm. Competitions are usually team-based, so children can compete in lots of short matches lasting in total between one and three hours.

Orange Ball Mini Tennis: The next stage up is for players aged 8 and 9 who have reached Red level 1. It is played on slightly larger courts than ‘red ball’, with bigger racquets and balls that are not as soft as red balls. An orange ball with low compression is used. This makes it bounce lower, giving the player better control at an important stage of their development. Competitions are for teams and individuals, providing the chance to compete in a number of medium length matches.

Green Ball Mini Tennis: This is for players aged 10. It takes place on a full tennis court, with bigger racquets and balls that are just a little softer than yellow balls. It’s the next stage to go through before you start playing with a full compression yellow ball on a full sized court and it will help players work on and improve all aspects of their game. A green ball is used, which is ideal for players moving from orange ball to actual tennis balls. Competitions are team and individual based, and there’s a chance to compete in longer matches.

Yellow Ball Mini Tennis: This is for players aged 11 and over. It is played on a full tennis court, with full size racquets and full compression yellow balls. It’s the last stage of tennis development. Competitions are team and individual based, and provide the chance to compete in 3 set matches. The scoring for each match is usually the best of three short sets or the best of three full sets.

Further information:

• For information on Mini Tennis visit www.minitennis.com
• The Lawn Tennis Association: www.lta.co.uk. The LTA is the governing body for tennis in Great Britain.  Founded in January 1888, its aims are to promote and develop tennis in the UK.
• The International Tennis Federation: www.itftennis.com.  The ITF is the international governing body of tennis.  Its aims are to develop tennis worldwide, at all levels.

By Kirsty Woodgate