I'm an assistant pro at semi-private club, and feel as though there is a need in our community for juniors to play tennis in a team environment. Keep in mind, I'm thinking of the 12 and under crowd, to sort of get them prepared for middle school and high school tennis. Does anyone here have any experience with this sort of thing. I was thinking about getting parents involved, and having one match-up per week, and having the teams practice together a couple of times per week as well. I'm sure summer would be the best time to get this going, mainly because the adult leagues at our club and after-school, junior clinics clog up the courts the rest of the year. Winter is absolutely out of the question, because we only have six indoor courts.
Other random thoughts and questions:
01. Should the teams be coed?
02. If so, should we play a mixed doubles match?
03. Four-man teams (with some sort of tiebreaker) or six-man?
04. As I mentioned, I'd like to get parents involved sort of like little league, but how can I hope that these parents would be able to control a practice session, when some tennis pros have a hard time with children?
05. I'd like to demphasize the competition and put an emphasis on sportsmanship, which I find completely lacking in junior tennis in our area.
Sorry for the incoherence, but I'm just brainstorming here. I'd welcome any comments, even if you have no experience in this field.
Junior Team Tennis League - Non USTA
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09-28-2008, 06:33 PMMaximum JackJunior Team Tennis League - Non USTA
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10-06-2008, 02:28 AMCoach
Max,
I just saw this late tonight. I'm going to give you my thoughts on these issues tomorrow after School. We don't have rain days at our HS. If there's bad weather, this school has one indoor court. Nice to grow up in an affluent school district huh? You should see the Computer Lab these kids get to play with. They're all learning how to break them down and rebuild them again. And to think when I first started school, we had Ink Wells in our Desk. No Ink however they just didn't replace the desk .. -
10-07-2008, 12:09 AMMaximum Jack
Looking forward to your insights.
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10-07-2008, 01:55 AMCoach
Evening Max ~
I'm so sorry that my evening was taken up with friends who stopped over for dinner. Now it's 1:30 and I have to go to bed. Check this before noon and I'll try to give you my two cents.
Thanks Max -
10-07-2008, 09:01 AMCoachHad to highlight this bcuz you apparently have never read my writing. There's a saying I learned when I was a child written by Longfellow I believe that says; All that we know which is man made began with a concept and of all those concepts, few were implemented without modification.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximum Jack
I didn't place quotes around it because I might have the wording slightly off. Anyway you are either referring to part of a school's curriculum and/or after school program, which happens in many cities I've been through. In the city which I live, USTA Licensed Instructors actually have Summer programs that pertain to the age group you mention although I haven't seen parents involvement in these gatherings other than dropping them off.
If you are thinking in terms of something being part of a school's curriculum, the best way to implement this is to attend School and City Board Meetings with your idea all drafted out. If you'd like to head such a program or just plainly articulated in order to inspire the City or School Board Planners and let them pick up the ball and run with it. Of course you know when you're talking City involvement, the obvious obstacle(s) is always money.
First I would call your Parks Department and see what availability they have in terms of courts. Then you could simply post something here & then (Aqui y Alli) asking for sign-ups for your Child's Summer League or whatever you want to call it. Max, if however it's not sanctioned by the School & City District, then you will also need to explore the Liabilities Clauses the Parks Services has to determine if one of the kids get injured, who's ultimately responsible.
You might also want to limit the amount of kids that could sign up or if it's open to as many as possible, then you'll need to get other Instructors onBoard because there's a lot of kids out there. If you are thinking an after school program, you'd probably have a multitude of support simply due to parents constantly concerned about their kid's activities after school, needing something structured and if your plan provides solutions for those concerns, you will be adored.
As for a Summer program, anything that gives structure to a child is always a positive thing. The USTA has many plans & programs geared towards what you are referring to and are always looking for accredited Instructors to implement them. When I return tonight (God Willing), I will do some research for you. There's a woman name Karen who works for the USTA in New York (Nuevo York) that can tell you more on this if I can get in touch with her. I haven't spoke to Karen in months but she's a dream. One of the most high energy people I've met. Anything that potentially brings more of our youth to the fold is all she wants to hear about.
btw, Excellent :)
