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Youth Tennis

Imagine trying to teach a group of 6-year-olds how to play baseball by plopping them at home plate at Yankee Stadium and asking them to hit a 90-mile-an-hour fastball with a major league-sized baseball bat. Or asking a 5-year-old beginner to defend a World Cup-sized soccer goal. Or expecting your kindergartener to shoot free throws into an NBA-regulation 10-foot high basket. Sounds a little silly, right?

Yet for years, kids were taught the sport of tennis with the same balls and courts used by professionals. Notonlythat,but beginning players might take lessons for two or three years before playing an actual game of tennis against an opponent. That’s a long time for a kid to wait to actually experience what playing a real match is about.

In light of the desire to make tennis more accessible to a younger generation, the USTA created the Youth Tennis program (formerly called the 10 and Under Tennis program).

A New Way to Think About Kids and Tennis

“The [Youth Tennis] program is correct-sized racquets, correct-bouncing balls and different sized courts for the different age groups,” says Geoffrey Jagdfeld, director of tennis for Solaris Sportsclub in Yorktown Heights and United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Eastern vice president. “The big change for the kids is … they can start to rally and play back and forth with a kid of the same age much earlier than they ever used to before.”

There are four levels in the Youth Tennis program. The youngest players play on a 36-foot court with a red ball that is 75 percent less compressed than a regular tennis ball. When children have mastered that level, they move up and play on a 60-foot court with an orange ball, which is 50 percent less compressed than a regular ball. From there they move to the full-sized court with a green ball, which is 25 percent less compressed than normal, before finally graduating to regulation-sized equipment. The nets and racquets start smaller with the red ball group and gradually increase in size as well.

This helps children learn good technique, and good techniqueisimportant,becauseit was widely known that the former way of teaching children how to play tennis was, in some ways, instilling poor habits. “In actuality, a person the size of a child cannotusepropertechniqueif the ball is always bouncing over his head,” explains Elliott Pettit, the 10 and Under Lead of Programs and Camps at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. “Traditionally, tennis was taught where kids are in a line and the pro feeds the ball directly to them … But in reality, if you do things that way, you’re not really training tennis players because the ball never goes right to you [in a match].”

As for what makes a good Youth Tennis program instructor, Pettit says the most important attribute is enthusiasm. “The coach has to want
to be there … Anyone that likes working with a 10 and under group is generally very high energy, very welcoming, very kind, and really sets out to make a connection,” he says. “Essentially, we are teaching tennis, but we’re teaching children first.”

Not Waht Parents Expected

Not everyone in the tennis world bought into the new program when it was first introduced. Some local tennis venues admit having lost some kids when Youth Tennis was first introduced; they went elsewhere because the parents didn’t believe in it. But now they say they get no issues from parents. “Once they see their kid out there rallying the ball back and forth with somebody else, it’s a done deal,” agrees Jagdfeld.

Shari Wels’ two boys, Jordan, 12 and Dylan, 9, have been learning and playing at Yonkers Tennis Center under the new system for years. Both Shari and her husband have played the game, learning under the old system, so they were naturally skeptical when introduced to the smaller courts and different- colored balls. “At firstyou think, is that really the right way for them to learn?” she says. “But then you realize when they’re so small … this is a much better way to learn.” Dylan, in particular, preferred the new system after having taken lessons under the old system at another club. “He loves to play the game,” says Wels. “That’s more exciting to him than just havingcoachesfeeding balls and hitting them back and forth.”

Spreading the Program

The USTA believes that if more kids got the chance to just play the game of tennis, the sport would gain a foothold with the next generation of athletes. To that end, they are doing all they can to ensure the Youth Tennis program spreads far and wide. They support the program by making the age-appropriate equipment available in schools and to parks and to programs that might want to get something started but might not be able to afford a whole set of equipment for the kids. USTA also helps in training the providers of tennis – making sure that they have the appropriate training so they know how to teach kids at various stages along the way.

“It’s good for all sports,” says Jagdfeld. “Tennis develops the hand-eye coordination that they’ll use for other sports. It develops the footwork that they’ll use in other sports like baseball or soccer.”

Everyone we spoke to that is involved with the sport of tennis agrees that Youth Tennis is the future of thegame,and that these unfamiliar red and orange balls and smaller courts are here to stay.

David Neilsen is a frequent contributor to Westchester Family 

Family Tennis

Tennis has changed! it’s now sized right for all ages and levels and is the perfect sport to play with your family and friends. the Youth tennis movement has made tennis into a family sport.


  • Low compression red, orange and green dot balls bounce lower and move slower through the air to match your ability level.
  • Different size courts also make it easier to play and learn fast and to enjoy the fun of tennis, no matter what age.
  • Tennis is a low-impact sport – you can start playing at any age and continue to play for a lifetime!
  • It’s a family sport – you can play with the whole family or make new friends by playing tennis through a social club or league.
  • Tennis boosts brain power – playing requires the brain to be creative and involves planning, tactical thinking, agility and the coordination of different parts of the body.
  • Tennis improves bone health and also increases flexibility.
  • Playing prevents injuries – regular tennis makes you more flexible, which can help prevent injuries and reduce muscle strain.
  • You can stay in shape for a lifetime! tennis is fun and burns a lot of calories (700 per hour!) Playing can also help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Visit eastern.usta.com to learn more.

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