New initiatives in Danish Tennis:
Tennis 10s
Mark Tennant
inspire2coach ltd
• Agassi story time video
www.inspire2coach.co.uk
Tennis 10s
Tennis10s is focussed on increasing levels of
participation in tennis and providing a more
appropriate development pathway for young players,
including appropriate competition. Tennis 10s is the
way tennis training and competition can be best
presented for all players aged 10 years and under.
www.inspire2coach.co.uk
Key principles
1. Create the best playing environment for 10 and under players
• appropriate sized court
• slower balls , including the new rule change
• shorter rackets
2. Present appropriate competition for 10 and under players
• shorter, multi-match formats and events
• team and individual matches
• simple scoring systems
www.inspire2coach.co.uk
The rules have
changed!
In January 2012 the rules of
tennis changed. It is now
mandatory for all competition
for players aged 10-and-under
to be played with slower red,
orange and green balls on the
appropriate sized courts. The
traditional yellow ball is no
longer permitted in matchplay
for this age.
www.inspire2coach.co.uk
Tennis 10s and parents
• It’s easy to be a
great
parent…………
• ………..until you
have kids!
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Teaching Mum and Dad
• Every federation wants to develop players
• Every federation wants well educated coaches to
train those players
• But who is teaching Mum and Dad?
• We ought to do more to help educate parents
• Windows of opportunity exist for ‘training’
parents too
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Teaching Mum and Dad
• Influence of parents and home life
• Working with Mum and Dad is much easier
than working without them, or worse still
working against them!
• Developing a team approach
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
A typical relationship?
A better relationship?
Parents and child
Child and coach
Coach and parents
Coach v parent perspective
Coach
Parent
“I have to treat all the kids the
same”
“I only care about my child”
“he is not good enough”
“he is good enough”
“he lost”
“the opponent cheated”
“he tried hard”
“he lost!”
“your child needs to play with an orange “you are treating my child like a baby!”
ball”
“I understand long-term player
development”
“you are not teaching him correctly”
“I want to pick other players for the
“you dropped my son/daughter!”
team”
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Helping parents
•There is no way to avoid the emotional
pressure which parents feel when their kids
compete
•Many of the problems experienced in the
coach:parent relationship are due to lack of
understanding
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Developing understanding
•If parents don’t
know or don’t
understand,
whose fault is
that?
“If he had played
on a bigger
court, he would
have won!”
“Why is my child
playing silly
games instead of
learning tennis?”
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Talk to parents
•Communicate regularly with parents in
groups and on a 1-1 basis
–De-briefs at end of each term
–Progress record cards
–Discuss and agree goals with the parents
•Parents evenings
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Agree roles and responsibilities
•“This is what we expect from the coach”
•“This is what we expect from the player”
•“This is what we expect from the parents”
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Involve parents
•Explain training methods
•Show and explain resources
•Encourage them to play too
•Explain how hard being a good tennis
player is
•Invite parents to be involved in officiating
and other parts of the programme
www.inspire2coach.co.uk 2011
Thank you for listening!
www.inspire2coach.co.uk