New Tennis Juniors
 

These kids are famous skateboarders, I know about them from my line of work. Now they have quit for tennis. Video says they've been playing 4 months but I think a little longer than that. They are 13.
Potential? What do you guys think? Here's one twin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-AoAiofpNw

Bad mechanics, bad footwork, decent hand-eye coordination. If he gets someone to work on the strokes, he has potential.

I buy that he's only been playing for 4 months, probably just a natural athlete that will develop over time with some coaching.

Good for them! They are learning a great sport that they can play for a lifetime. I'm sure they love skateboarding, but you don't see many guys in the skate park at 40 or 50.

Yes as far as I know they don't have a set coach right now. More just Dad going out and working with them but I could be wrong. They are great kids and I agree, tennis is a sport to grow old with.

I've not been playing tennis long enough to judge footwork and strokes, so I posted to hear what the experts thought haha.

Here's them skating. No denying they have talent, now hopefully some of that passion will carry over to the courts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM-HY...el_video_title

Two things they certainly have for skating are balance and footwork. That should translate to tennis. Also some guts and perseverance - you gotta fail, fall, and repeat a lot to learn that stuff.

A little update: about a year ago the whole family packed up and moved from northern California to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for them to train full time at Van Der Meer Academy.

Again just curious about takes on their improvement, as I am not a decent enough tennis player to know.

Brother 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl35eSbsdBM&feature=plcp

Brother 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyRpGDLaImw&feature=plcp

Little Sister
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmS02kfgy7w&feature=plcp

Saw a kid in the lunchroom the other day at work in a cast. Yep - skateboarding. Ask the ER doctors what the number 1 cause of accidents of their clientele.

That is hilarious. Kids parents must be freaking loaded.

It's interesting how the two boys especially Nic, really improved their tennis within one year but regressed in skateboarding within the same time (see the skating video after a year). It just goes to show that if one really dedicates themselves to something, you will see the fruits of your labor. All three are talented kids. My suggestion, stick with the tennis avoid the broken bones with skateboarding....though longboarding is a lot of fun!

The problem (or question) that I have is, what's the end result here?

Why are they at a tennis academy? Did the whole family purposely move to South Carolina to be in a tennis academy after playing for about 6 months? I find this very strange.

The kids won't go pro, they might (at a smaller school) play college.

Just trying to wrap my head around this.

..........................

Well, for sure they have the resources.

I just find it odd (or don't understand), why you would want to pick a tennis academy. They barely play (or played) and it doesn't seem like fun (compared to taking a helicopter to the Bahamas and skating at a random skate park).

I have not heard about them till today. After glancing via some of their youtube videos on that account, the skateboarding twins were quite celebrities. Earned 5 years NIKE contract till age 12. Also had other endorsement deals from their skateboard talents.

Don't have a coaching expertise to criticize their tennis but as a parent, I would be worried about skateboard injuries, even a head injury, and the longevity of that sport for any kids.

Wonder if the original poster knew why they switched and whether they are trying to become tennis pros or just enjoying the sport.
Athletic kids for sure. Best of luck!

As I understand, they are...
 

loaded. Skate park in the "backyard". A court also, I think. My take is that the parents decided "skateboarding" wasn't the lifestyle they wanted the kids to finally end up in, so tennis was introduced. They have been playing more than 4 months.

I know a few people that make a ton of money, so no matter what they do or what their kids do, the go for the top, the best, the most expensive. Not something most can relate to, but it does happen. Not a criticism, it is what it is.

Other skate kids were outraged...
 

...when they announced decision to switch to tennis. Said lots of nasty stuff about them and the game of tennis. They are quite well known on the skate curcuit.

Ok....according to this story, kids have played a few months and then family uproots themselves and moves from northern California to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for them to train full time at Van Der Meer Academy.....

And 14 year old boy's YouTube video
( and I will say this again, I don't know why parents are posting videos online for the entire world to see of their children, seems like you are violating your child's basic right to privacy, but whatever....), in 11 months of playing, he has logged (according to the end of the video) - 1,650 hours.

Sounds like some of these tennis dads or in this case, families could be auditioning for a reality tv show.

1650 hours in 11 months is roughly 6 hours a day 6 days a week every week without breaks. I hope these kids really like tennis.

I have to say they improved a lot in tennis. Good form but why not do both?

In response to the skateboarding injuries deal -- neither of these boys ever had a trip to the hospital the whole time they were skating.

They started skating at a very young age and, being homeschooled, skated almost every single day. The story goes that by the time they were reaching their teenage years they were simply bored of it. Very interesting to see, as they were celebrities not just in the skateboard world (appeared on Ellen, sponsored by Nike, Gatorade, Sony, etc.).

The reason I originally made this thread was because I was curious: 1) At the beginning - were they even talented enough to benefit from training full time (Does a casual runner need to to train with a marathon runner?) Sure they will improve, but is the cost worth it? and 2) Now that they have been there a year, has the cost been worth it? Have they improved, factoring in the amount of time and teaching, that they should have?

Their father is an internet marketing genius. The family is extremely loaded. The dad was the one who started making all of the movies of the boys skating and got them all those sponsors. I wouldn't be surprised if he plans to try to do the same with their tennis--they have a Twitter, a Facebook page, and a YouTube all dedicated to their tennis. I will say, though, that he does tend to exaggerate for their benefit, so that number of hours they have been playing could be stretched, etc. For example this new video says they have been playing "Almost a year" however over a year ago I posted a video where they said they had been playing "Four months."