Coach Pelkey's Corner
QuickStart Tennis: A New Way To Teach Kids Tennis
QuickStart Tennis is a new format to help kids ten and under learn and play the game. To make it easier for them, we changed a few things. The court sizes. The racquet sizes. The balls. The scoring system. Even the net height.
Now any child between ages five and ten can start playing tennis almost immediately-even if he or she has never picked up a racquet before.
Like other popular youth sports, QuickStart stresses the importance of play and team competition. It's also now part of the USTA Jr. Team Tennis league and can be part of your existing programs as well. Which means that even more kids will have the opportunity to experience this new format, have fun playing with their friends and develop skills that will become the foundation of their game.
The QuickStart Tennis format is about fitting tennis to kids based on age and physical size. By modifying the court dimensions, equipment (racquets and balls), net height and scoring system coupled with a play component, kids will develop better technical and tactical skills. When each of these elements is used collaboratively, kids will achieve early success and stay in the game.
To give kids the confidence and ability to cover the entire court, score points and build an all-court game, the court is shorter and narrower for both age groups. The net height is lower, too.
The QuickStart Tennis format divides kids into two age groups: the first is 8 & under; the second is 10 & Under. By putting kids with similar physical and social skills together, they have more fun while learning and developing skills.
For the five- to eight-year-olds, the court dimensions are 36' long and 18' wide. Children play across the width of a normal tennis court, with a portable net or tape dividing the court in half. The length of the court stretches between the doubles sidelines. The width spans from the baseline to the service line. Temporary lines (e.g., throw-down lines, tape or chalk) can be used to mark the boundaries. Since the dimensions are smaller, as many as four courts can be set up across one full-size tennis court. For this age group, the net height is 2' 9".
Since nine- and ten-year-olds are typically taller and stronger, their court needs to be bigger. For this group, the court dimensions are 60' long and 21' wide. By using temporary lines (throw-down lines, tape or chalk) as baselines, the length of the court can be shortened by 9' at both ends to make it a 60' length. The singles sidelines are used to determine the width of the court. Again, temporary lines can be placed 3' inside the singles sidelines creating a 21' singles court and 27' doubles court. For this age group, the standard tennis net height can be used. Just, as kids need a court that suits their size, they also need the right size equipment. That's why both the racquet and ball are different from the equipment adults use.
Kids need a ball that's equal to their playing abilities. A regulation tennis ball moves too fast, bounces too high and is too heavy for the smaller racquet. Each age group, therefore, uses a ball better suited to their unique playing ability.
For 8 & Under, a foam ball or a very low-compression ball moves slower, bounces lower and travels less distance.
For 10 & Under, a low-compression ball moves a little faster and travels farther than the ball used with the younger group, but it still has a lower bounce than a regulation ball.
For an adult player to succeed at tennis, racquet control is essential. Same goes for kids. But since kids are smaller than adults, kids have trouble controlling full-size racquets. They're too long, they're too heavy, and the grips are too large. Kids need racquets that are proportionate in length and weight and have a grip that fits their smaller hands.
For 8 & Under, the racquet should be 19", 21" or 23".
For 10 & Under, the racquet should be 23" or 25".
The QuickStart Tennis scoring system is simple. It helps organizers plan a competition and it gives parents and players a start and finish time.
With 8 & Under there are only seven points in a game, so match play is short and sweet. Kids play the best of the three games; the first to score seven points wins the game. The first to win two games wins the match. The longest a match will last approximately 20 minutes. With 10 & Under should play the best of three sets; the first to win four games wins a set. For the third set, the first player to win seven points wins the match.