Junior Tennis Program rOADMAP
PROGRAMMING ROADMAP FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN
Yes, toddlers can learn to play tennis too! This class will introduce fundamental physical literacy movements and teach basic racquet and ball skills and is a perfect primer for Tots Plus! Fun filled story-based coordination games and activities are at the core of the program with essential skills such as controlled ball throwing and catching, and ball guiding, balancing and striking are taught. Tots will have the opportunity to return coach or parent fed balls with their forehand.
FOR PLAYERS WHO HAVE MASTERED KEY SKILLS FROM TENNIS FOR TOTS
This course takes the Tot one step closer to rallying. It focuses on rally starter training and feeding. Players’ progress using their forehand skills, returning hand and racquet fed balls. The concept of rallying will begin with the development of these new skills. Depending on course length, backhand, serving and volleying preliminaries may be introduced.
INTRODUCTORY PROGRAM FOR 6 & 7 YEAR OLDS AND GRADUATING TOTS PLUS PLAYERS (PLAYERS TURNING 6 AND 7 IN THE PROGRAM YEAR)
This program starts off as an accelerated merging of the Tots and Tots Plus classes with an emphasis on skill development and fun! Players will be mixed and matched with different partners while practicing coordination and ball skills such as softly lofting to a partner so they can bump the ball up and eventually return it back across the net. As forehand and backhand rally skills begin to develop game playing will be introduced. Serving and volleying skills will also be introduced as players’ progress through the course.
FOR INTERMEDIATE 7 AND UNDER PLAYERS WHO HAVE MASTERED KEY SKILLS FROM RED BALL 1 (PLAYERS TURNING 6 AND 7 IN THAT PROGRAM YEAR)
With prerequisites in place such as starting and maintaining a brief cooperative rally and feeding and returning balls with a partner, actual game-playing can begin! Tactical solutions to game situations such as the use of the serve, backhand and volley, will be covered. Similarly, fundamental technical ideas such as set-up, impact point, hitting zone, and grip will be highlighted as keys to ball control with ball control, in turn, being the key to implementing tactics. Players will engage in fun competition with their classmates!
INTRODUCTORY PROGRAM FOR 8 & 9 YEAR OLDS AND FOR GRADUATING 7 AND UNDER RED BALL 2 PLAYERS (MUST BE 8 OR 9 BY DECEMBER OF THAT PROGRAM YEAR)
This course moves quickly through key rallying prerequisites from the U7 Level 1 course. U7 Level 2 content is launched soon after and game playing begins! The backhand, serve, and volley strokes are taught as solutions to real game situations. Players will engage in friendly competition in the second half of the course with technical and tactical aspects covered during play.
FOR 9 AND UNDER PLAYERS WHO HAVE MASTERED KEY SKILLS FROM RED BALL 1 (MUST BE 8 OR 9 BY DECEMBER OF THAT PROGRAM YEAR)
The emphasis in this course is league play! Given that players in this program can already rally, playing singles and doubles games against players of similar skill level is the mainstay of this program. Teams will be formed early in the season, games will be played, scores and standings will be kept, but it is a program where everyone is a winner! Ongoing technical instruction will take place at the beginning of each day and reinforced throughout play. Come on out to play!
PROGRAMMING ROADMAP FOR OLDER CHILDREN
There are introductory courses for this age group as well as a combination skill development/league for the more developed player. Typically this age group would learn with an orange or green dot ball; however, because the speed of these balls off of a gymnasium floor is extremely fast, we use a red balls for all of our 10+ indoor programs held in a gymnasium. Red balls on a gymnasium floor are equivalent to the speed of an orange on a regular tennis court. Our 10+ programs at the Kinsmen Sports Centre, which are held on tennis courts, use green dot balls. All of our outdoor 10+ programs use orange and green dot balls.
FOR ALL 10 TO 12 YEAR OLDS
10+ players graduate to a larger ¾ sized court (using orange balls) and then progress to a full court using green dot balls. Cooperative rallying and partner activities are launched into quickly so that game playing can begin! Playing singles and doubles games against players of similar skill level is the mainstay of this program. Teams will be formed early in the season, games will be played, scores and standings will be kept, but it is a program where everyone is a winner! Ongoing technical instruction will take place at the beginning of each day and reinforced throughout play. Come on out to play!
About ‘Red Ball’, ‘Orange Ball’ and ‘Green Ball’
EJTS programs use a range of balls for different levels and different surfaces, designed and proven to make it easier for new players and especially kids to develop skills and confidence.
- ‘Red’ or starter balls are larger and much softer than standard tennis balls, ideal for playing simple games to develop co-ordination before kids even try hitting across a net, and paired up with much smaller court areas, size and strength-appropriate racquets and small mini-nets for learning how to rally and play points.
- ‘Orange’ balls are the same size as standard tennis balls, but still much softer (lower compression) so much more controllable for learners. Games are generally played over a standard net but using a much smaller 3/4 (badminton-court) sized playing area.
- ‘Green dot’ or ‘green’ balls are the intermediate step up toward standard balls for players ready to start playing on a regulation-sized court. Many tournaments for kids from 8 to 12 years of age are played with green dot balls.
Since most of the indoor spaces available for EJTS to offer programs are gymnasiums with hard, smooth floors, which exaggerate bounce and speed, we use red balls for all of our indoor programming except at the Kinsmen Sports Centre, which has regulation tennis courts with a textured surface. Programs for older kids (10+) at Kinsmen use orange and green balls, as do our outdoor programs held on standard tennis courts.
10+ players graduate to a larger ¾ sized court (using orange balls) and then progress to a full court using green dot balls. Cooperative rallying and partner activities are launched into quickly so that game playing can begin! Playing singles and doubles games against players of similar skill level is the mainstay of this program. Teams will be formed early in the season, games will be played, scores and standings will be kept, but it is a program where everyone is a winner! Ongoing technical instruction will take place at the beginning of each day and reinforced throughout play. Come on out to play!
Skill Development and League Play
Tennis Canada supports programs across the country and Edmonton has the most vibrant grassroots youth programs of any community in Canada! Our mandate is to run minor tennis programs to develop tennis skills enabling players to engage in fun and friendly competition. As players move through the programs, players will learn the skills and competitive aspects of how to play the game and engage in simple competitions. The 10+ Kinsmen program will operate as a full blown league with teams, singles and doubles competitions and team standings. Kids love this exciting and rewarding team competition program!
Our objective with every child who enters our programs is to help her/him to progress through ‘pathways’ which will lead to adoption of the sport for life, whether simply as recreation or pursuing higher levels of competition, by building skills and most importantly to make the experience fun. To this end, our coaches will assess progress and provide written reports to point each child to the next most appropriate step on her or his individual pathway.
Our mandate is to run tennis programs for children under the age of 12 but we understand that there are limited opportunities for teenage players to receive instruction during the winter months in Edmonton. If our 10+ programs are not full and your child is just out of this age category, but otherwise qualifies for the class, we will look at trying to incorporate your child into the program. This will be on a first come, first served basis.