How to choose a coach?

This is one of the most important aspect in your child tennis development is to find the right coach. Parent should be solely responsible for choosing a coach. Child input about the coach (if he/she likes him/her should not be heavily considered in parents decision)

Before you commit money sit next to the court and observe his/her teaching style. Good coaches should not offer students get rich quick approaches. They know that good fundamentals take time to develop. Also instructor should not let players waste any shots during a lesson. Watch and observe if you see similarities or common trends in his player from stroking patterns to effort level on the court.

Here are some questions to ask a coach:

What is your basic tennis philosophy?

What is the most important part in his philosophy? (strokes, effort level, strategy, footwork, mental toughness, physical conditioning)

How important are the strokes to him?

What is a basic stroke pattern he tries to develop?

Does he teach all level players?

Does he understand that different players should be on the different training schedule?

Does he like to go and watch player play at the tournament?

When does he think physical training and mentally toughness should be part of players training?

Does he teach boys how to hit the ball differently that girls?

What does he charge?

Does he teach any group lessons?

Does he have any assistants working for him?

Is the child going to be coached by him or his assistant?

How to spend your money wisely?

Parents are responsible for treating their child tennis like running a small business. Every business operates on some common basic principles. All business have some kind of philosophy (mission statement) to managing their money. Managing money is crucial when running your child tennis program. There are a lot of option out there from very expensive academies to city programs to private clubs. Through years of teaching experience we found effective system in allocating your money in right direction.

Here are some examples of how to spend your money that could work for all levels of tennis. Basically what player needs are technical lessons supplemented with a lot of match play and tournament play during a week.

The more technical lessons you get the better but it could get pretty expensive, so we recommend that you get at least one or two a week. Lesson rage from 40$ to 85$ per hour. Between private lessons match play is essential. Players need to play somewhere between 8 and 10 sets a week plus tournament play over weekend. How do you get match play is when you go to a tournament introduce yourself to yours opponents parents get their telephone number chances are they live somewhere in surrounding area. Remember you are trying to collect as many names as you can from all different level player some that are better that your child some that are worse and some that are about the same level. Think about using these players to get better, it doesn’t mean that you have to like them to practice against each other. It is probably better for your child if he doesn’t like the player he is practicing against; it will make him work harder on court. Another way of additional practice is to get some hitting lesson. College kids are always looking to make some extra money over weekends. For hitting lessons you should not play more that 20$ an hour. After match play and hitting lessons ask you child where me makes to most unforced errors. Than next time you go to your private lesson., tell his coach he is still missing second serves, can you just work on that. Every week should be that same process, and sooner that later you will see immense improvement in your child game. Can it be this simple to train your kid? Yes it can!!!!!!! If the private lessons are two expensive try to see if 30 min or 15 min lessons are offered. You’ll be surprised how much can be done in just 15 min of instructions. With a little creativity your child can get proper training on any budget.