The mini tennis revolution swept through the tennis world at the turn of the millennium. Canada, the United Kingdom, and we are sure that several other countries were early adoptive adoptives of the Mini Tennis Revolution that has triggered a lot of dividing whether it is a bull bunch or whether it really helps people play and develop their game. In 2005, I was in Cambridge in the UK as a full -time coach in the new generation clubs and mini tennis was highly adopted. As a type of natural innovator and also early at the beginning of my career of early coaching, I accepted all parts of what it was.
I liked the progression of colors as an engaging way for players to get into sports. It also made sense to me that almost every other sport adjusted his game and had no tennis. The traditional type of coaches remained skeptical of innovation. Some years and others probably still today. “Why we need it, players can easily learn on the yellow ball type, they probably had enough reasons to be skeptical. Academic research wrapped in a shiny marketing campaign could sometimes look good, but not actually cross a real life. National management authorities for this sport do great things, but often there is also a sign of what is really happening in the club or program. In addition, these coaches with the history of players and popular programs have all the right to be skeptical of changes for changes. But now 18 years later and countless lessons that use low compression balls, I can confidently say that I believe it is a very positive revolution of sport.
What are my favorite parts of modified tennis?
Perception skills develop easier and faster. Slower balls mean a easier assessment and this means longer gatherings, greater consideration of the technique and placement of the ball along with confidence and “buy” that you will gain from a child who is starting to experience success. The way it helps children to actually control the ball is so important where they can be much more deliberate with their constantly developing gaming plan. Technically yes, the slow ball is great, but the height of the reflection is even more important. High jumping balls can cause problems for children from extreme grips, monthly balls, shortened technology (because balls fly off the rocket) to other bad habits on attempting to cope with the ball that is constantly jumping over their shoulders.
What is my favorite part of modified tennis?
Establishing mini networks, recording 3/4 of the courts and how difficult they can be on a windy day. To TennisIn fact, we rarely set mini networks or have permanent casting or painted lines, and instead we end up the networks and play in service boxes or use cheese sticks (thin brands) as a 3/4 court guide. If I had fewer courts or concentrated only on the red ball, then we would always use mini networks, because you can mount a lot of children on the pitch and it works quite well. However, our coaches are busy and have the procedure of different consecutive lessons with red ballers, just one of the stages. We do not want to have mini networks permanently set up as its appearance chaotic and unpleasant for all other players who are not red balls at our academy and club.
Does this mean that you move the ball to the level?
Not always! Although almost every child and parent think that it must be obvious progress up, it depends on several factors.
Size – If the child is truly high, then their hip height is higher than their men with a smaller class. This should be considered, but it would also depend on some other factors below.
Technical development – For our passionate young players, we want to introduce all tennis skills such as slices, drop shot, smash, drive walks and other shots that have ever been saved for older years. We would rather get some of these foundations with low compression balls to help develop the confidence of young players and allow them to “try” these images in their modified environment.
Power – Other children do a technically decent job, but simply do not create enough energy in the shots to benefit from the transition to the next ball.
Control skills – In connection with the technical development, but if a child cannot gather with you for more than a few shots with a red ball, they are not ready to move up. It is easier to gather with a low compression ball and a modified court, so as soon as they begin to handle these skills, then they can take them to the next phase.
The age of age – If a brand new player who is 11 years old comes to our hotshots program, they go to the Hotshots Green Ball Hotshots. In fact, they could benefit from making a red ball or even an orange ball, but then they will be with 5, 6 or 7 -year -olds, which is a quick way to stop them after a period of time. So yes, social factors have to come into it and where you can ideally develop them on a lower compression ball, you must appreciate that not all players are looking for untouched technology and a number of shots and game plans under 16! Sometimes it is more important to play ok tennis with friends.
So in many cases it is our passionate young players who encourage ourselves to constantly develop through Orange and then Green Ball as long as suitable to help your game in the long run. To show that many of our Orange Squad players would beat most of our Green Hotshots and our Green Squad players can beat many less experienced yellow yellow ball players. Therefore, it is very important to recruit passionate players with the potential of Hotshots and our junior club units, because then we can really focus on their long -term development.
But as a guide would look like below:
- 3-6 years-red balls
- 6-11 years-orange ball
- 8-14 years-green ball
- 10-18 years-yellow balls
Minimum time in each phase – 2 years
Average time in each phase – 3 years
Maximum time in each phase – 4 years
To the health
Rick Willsmore
Coaching director
Tennis
