Over the years, I have had many tennis parents ask me questions about tennis training for their kid. They ask questions, like: How often should their child be training? Should they attend a clinic, or get private lessons? Is high school tennis a good use of time? These are all great questions, but none of them can be answered without addressing the most important question first, which is: What are your goals? 

The paths you can take in junior tennis presents a limitless set of options. Some kids only attend clinic a few afternoons after school. Some just have a private coach they see once per week. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have kids who drop out of traditional school so they can play tennis full-time. Given this wide breadth of options, setting goals early and understanding how to reach those goals can be a critical part of the junior tennis development process. In this post, I will give my view on the different goals for junior tennis players, along with what I think is required to reach these different levels. 

The first and most basic level is the recreational player. This is the kid that just wants to have fun. They want to know the rules, be good enough to rally, and compete against friends and acquaintances for fun. As a kid, growing up in Ohio, this was the level I was at. This level can be reached in group lessons at your local park or rec center. Some of these tennis groups will offer tennis teams that compete against each other, but the overall level is basic and the time and investment is relatively small. Private coaching won’t hurt, but it’s definitely not necessary. Like every other skill we learn as humans, the earlier you start, the better, but even getting a late start won’t ever prevent someone from learning and falling in love with the game of tennis. 

I call the next level the school tennis player. This is the kid that just wants to make it onto their middle or high school tennis team. The level of tennis obviously depends on how competitive the school team is, but for the most part, reaching a level high enough to play on most high school tennis teams can be achieved through a few focused hours each week leading up to the tennis season. Most kids I see who “just wanna make the squad” are not playing all year round, but they have solid technique and skills from a few hours a week at a clinic and usually had private instruction at some point. Many started young (as in: it would be very difficult to make a decent team with less than two years or so of tennis experience). In my opinion, this is a great goal because it allows the kid to experience tennis at a competitive level, give back to their school, and participate in a fun sport. It also allows for a good balance between sport and other interests, like other sports and extracurriculars at school.

The third level is the regionally competitive tournament player. These are the players competing in USTA tournaments, but not yet good enough to be invited (or willing to travel) far distances for larger national or ITF tournaments. These are generally kids playing in Level 6 to Level 4 tournaments with an occasional entry into a Level 3, depending on the draw size and quality of the pool. There can be a wide variance in the quality of play at this level, but make no mistake: These kids are committed! This is the level where players are “selected” into tournaments based on prior results. Kids are comparing UTRs before matches and usually are focused on the one sport of tennis. There are many different ways to reach this level. Some get there through long clinic sessions almost daily. Others reach the level through hitting sessions and drills. But almost all have private coaches and are involved in regular private instruction. This level can be tricky because the time (and financial) commitment are significant, but because the competition is at such a high level, the results can be unpredictable. Often these kids will still play for their schools, and depending on what part of the country you are in, these kids will often be the top players on their teams. In my observation, I estimate the number of hours kids are playing tennis each week to be around 10 to 12 (that includes the weekends), so these are kids who can still attend a regular school, but lots of tennis!

The fourth level are the kids who are striving to play high level college tennis, and depending on how things go, even strive for pro. These kids attend national junior tournaments, like the Easter Bowl or Kalamazoo hard courts, and it is not uncommon to see some of them tour the world as part of the ITF circuit to try to win a spot at junior Wimbledon or US Open. These are the ones with an extremely high dedication to the sport, often spending over a dozen hours each week on court, coupled with lots of hours in the gym working on fitness and flexibility. There is generally no time for school tennis, and the level of competition won’t be high enough to get them on the team. They are often doing private lessons several times per week and many employ fitness trainers and mental strength coaches as well. Because there is actually not a huge gap between the top Div 1 college programs and low-ranked professionals, the goals for these players will be in this realm. I have seen a mix of kids at this level who stay at home and go to a regular school, but there are definitely kids at this level who leave traditional school altogether and attend a full time tennis academy to give themselves the best possible chance of reaching their dreams.

The highest junior level I have observed is not too different than the fourth level I just described, but they have set their sites on going pro (skipping college) and are willing to make an even higher level of investment and time commitment. These are the kids who feel they have the talent and desire to reach the pro ranks and are doing everything possible to get there. They are the ones who relocate to places like Florida or Texas to attend a nationally recognized academy, and are spending every possible moment on tennis (think: 20 – 25+ hrs per week when adding up off court and on court training). The reason I state that there is some overlap between this group of players and the level four player is because when things reach this high level of competition, natural ability and athleticism start to play a role. It’s hard to out train someone who is just bigger, stronger and faster than you. Or find ways to win against kids who were born with ice water in their veins and a killer instinct. 

I am not 100% sure, but I would guess that some type of leveling like the one I am describing for tennis exists for every junior sport in the US. Tennis is unique, however, in that it is an individual sport where your kid doesn’t join a team and get to be part of the structure of a predefined system. The individual nature means it is mostly up to the parent to determine how to structure the kid’s development.

Hopefully, this primer is a helpful guide as you think about what the goals are for your junior tennis player. Like I said earlier – there are a limitless number of ways to approach tennis development, and just when you think you’ve made a big commitment, there is a whole different level you might not even have been aware of! But as you think about how many hours per week is required to “get good” or “be competitive,” remember that a big factor in answering that question depends on the goals you have set.