Junior Tennis: It’s about Direction, not Perfection
Submitted to: PTR TennisPro Magazine By Joe Dinoffer, September 1, 2006
by Joe Dinoffer -
September 01, 2006
What do Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina, Amelie Mauresmo, Martina Navratilova, the Bryan brothers, Serena Williams, Tommy Haas, Fernando Gonzales, Marat Safin, and Sebastian Grojean all have in common? In a two-hour window on the first Monday of the 2006 U.S. Open, they were all on the same group of practice courts. We got to watch them all, as each worked on particular aspects of their games while they warmed up for their upcoming matches. Needless to say, it was very inspiring and also a great opportunity to once again put junior tennis into perspective.
My 13-year-old daughter Kalindi is a competitive player. She is also a perfectionist. As we watched through the fence, Dinara Safina worked on her acceleration through inside-out and inside-in forehand patterns, the very same patterns my daughter had drilled for the past week. Like many juniors, Kalindi has aspirations and dreams. She says she wants to become as good a tennis player as possible. And, like many, she wants it to happen “yesterday.” In other words, at times, she lacks patience. The purpose of this article is to share some ideas on how to help your own juniors (and their parents) get a view of the bigger picture of junior tennis, and also some ways to help them achieve their goals. Let’s start with tournaments.
Junior Tournaments – Get a Perspective
What’s one of the most challenging aspects of junior tennis? I regularly ask this question to teaching pros and coaches. Universally, they say that the parents are the cause of most of the problems. In America there’s a national junior event named after the late great Maureen Connelly. It’s called the “Little Mo” and it offers competition for children as young as eight or nine years old. In a recent championship, two fathers nearly got in a fistfight after their two 8-year-old sons competed.
The first few years of competitive tennis for most kids is extremely challenging. They have to call their own lines, keep score, manage time between points and changeovers, and also learn the rules of the game. In America, the larger participation sports for children are baseball, soccer, football, and basketball. In all competitive circumstances in these sports, there are scorekeepers and continuous umpiring. Will there be mistakes in tennis? Absolutely. Will the children learn how to conduct themselves over time? Certainly. Considering that most of the problems come from the parents, consider adding parent training to your programs.
Parent Training and the “We” word
Since most tennis parents are not active tennis players, it should not be surprising that they don’t always conduct themselves properly around the courts. Beyond the obvious problems of one-sided cheering, blatant coaching, and accusing their child’s opponents of cheating on every close call, there is also the bigger problem of the parents using the “We” word. Go to any junior tournament and ask a parent after a match how it went. Many will say, “We lost a close one.” Or, “We were cheated out of the tiebreaker.” In other words, the parents are living through their child’s experiences so much that they become part of the win or loss.
One of the least emphasized yet critical aspects of junior development is parent training. Most coaches and pros agree that it’s an important issue, but few actually invest the time to conduct any type of parent training at all. Examples of training tools could include: printed behavior guidelines, rules and etiquette meetings with parents, and meetings with juniors and parents together. These are some of the initiatives that the most forward-thinking junior development programs are taking. One of the most creative ideas I’ve heard about is a meeting where the juniors are called upon to list their most disliked parent behaviors. When the points are made by their own children, the likelihood of the parents listening more closely increases substantially.
The Curse of the 12-and-unders
We’ve all heard about the importance of remaining process-oriented versus result-oriented. But it’s also a fact that winning or losing is important, and that all competitors want to win. The real question is whether they are moving forwards or potentially backwards by winning. A well-respected local tennis professional once told me that to be Number One in a country in the 12-and-under age group can be the most deadly curse in tennis. Why? Because only rarely does a junior who succeeds in the 12s smoothly transition their game style into the higher age brackets. Succeeding in the 12s is generally a process of being a steady baseliner and playing it safe. While consistent play is a key ingredient to higher levels as well, it is also a fact that weapons and the mentality of assertive play need to be developed as juniors play in older age brackets.
The 10-year Journey
Most experienced coaches will say that it takes 10 years of steady effort for a player to develop to his or her potential. The conclusion is that, along this journey, steady progress is made in all the basic attributes a tennis player requires. These attributes fit into various categories, which include: technical, tactical, emotional, and physical. Therefore, it is illogical for parents or players to think they can be “perfect” at any point along the journey. Again, it is about direction, not perfection. The key is for players to “stay the course” during this extended journey.
Take Whining and Complaining out of the Equation
We also know that attitude is everything, in tennis and in life. Among attitude problems in tennis, we also know that frustration can cause the ruination of many a good junior player. We all know what frustration looks and sounds like. But, what causes it? Simply put, frustration occurs when reality doesn’t meet expectations. Example: A player expects to hit every shot well and then they mishit a groundstroke and act surprised. However, this reaction is almost humorous since even players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal mishit a shot or two in almost every set they play. If you want to lower frustration levels in your players, help them (and their parents) to set realistic short-term and mid-range goals.
The Right Side and Wrong Side of the Fence
To help young players visualize the difference between being positive and negative, it may help to come up with a story to clearly help them develop good behavior patterns. With my own daughter, when she was only four or five years old, I used to tell her a story about two houses in which two little girls live side-by-side. One of the houses was the happy house with he happy girl inside and the other house was the sad house with the little girl who was always complaining, upset, and crying. Over time, I believe this story helped my daughter mature into the happy person she is today.
However, when she started playing tennis at 10 years old, being a perfectionist and generally impatient, she started experiencing and showing her frustration. That’s when we came up with another story about a fence. There are two sides of the fence. Now, she is in the story. On one side of the fence is sunshine, green grass, flowers, and happy birds chirping on beautiful shade trees. On the other side of the fence (the negative side) it’s dark, the ground is muddy, there are no birds, and tons of mosquitoes. In fact, I had her write a list describing what could be found on each side of the fence.
Kalindi is now 13 years old and competing at the highest levels of our USTA Texas Section. On the court, her emotions are generally positive. These stories have definitely helped since story telling is a powerful instrument for everyone, especially children. Come up with your own anecdotes, but be prepared to be patient yourself since you’ll probably have to repeat these stories over and over again.
Establish a Zero Tolerance Policy
Once you’ve helped your juniors understand the difference between helpful behavior and destructive behavior, the next step is to help them stay with it. Teaching pros and coaches all around the world emphasize and do a fairly good job on technique while teaching forehands, backhands, and serves. Almost surprisingly, however, is the fact that coaches spend very little time setting and maintaining behavior standards.
And, as we all know, setting standards is the easy part. Maintaining them requires continuous follow-up. The important thing is to clearly establish what behavior you are expecting and what behavior is unacceptable. Reach an agreement with the young player and, if needed, put it in writing and get him or her to sign an agreement. Keep in mind that while there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with expressing emotions, they should be expressed in a positive way.
How Many Tournaments?
 There are coaches who advise young juniors to play as many tournaments as possible. And, there are others who recommend taking a few months off from tournaments each year so the young player can focus entirely on developing their games without the pressure of tournaments. Is there a right way or a wrong way to approach this important question? Two things are certain. First, the answer depends on the child. Second, that the more important issue is to help young players set short term, mid-range and long-term goals to help keep their priorities in order.
Kalindi Dinoffer has a long-term goal of playing tennis for Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Drills and Thrills
Just like school, besides repetition and memorization, good teachers create a captivating environment by making it fun and full of variety. On a tennis court, good coaches can do the same with more than just skill developments. We also need to inject drills and thrills into each session to keep the journey enjoyable. Here are some ideas to add to your menu of options.
- Courage – “Courage” is a drill that rewards players for going after their shots. The rules are very simple. The players compete with a bounce-hit game or regular set of singles, with one exception. If a player misses a ball long or wide, but they are aggressively going after a shot they are trying to develop, it is called a “courage” shot and the point is replayed. The only thing to keep in mind is that balls hit into the net should never be rewarded with a second chance.
- Alleys – Playing “Alleys” is designed to help players go after angled shots in singles. Two players compete in either a bounce-hit game or regular set of singles, with one rule change. In each point, each player is allowed to hit one crosscourt shot into either alley. A variation to this rule is to allow unlimited shots into the alleys but, again, only when the balls are hit crosscourt.
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Black Wall – For this visually innovative drill, cover the net with sheets, blankets, or any material  that will make the net appear like a black wall. Then play a set of singles. Two primary things will be accomplished. First, that every time someone hits into the net, it will make a loud popping sound, definitely bringing the evils of hitting into the net to the forefront of a player’s mind. Second, that players will realize that they must use arc and spin to control the ball. It will immediately become clear to them that nearly every ball hit, except for those near the net that are contacted above net height, require arc to travel over the net and into the court. Players who tend to hit low and flat will benefit tremendously from the learning experience of this drill. A secondary benefit will be that players will learn to trust eachothers’ line calls, since they will not be able to see their balls bounce onto their opponent’s side of the net.
Cover the net to learn valuable lessons.
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