10 and under tennis competencies-green

[julian]

http://www.usta.com/About-USTA/Playe...tencies_green/

[barringer97]

pretty cool. Thanks,

[barringer97]

Here's Orange:

http://www.usta.com/About-USTA/Playe...encies_orange/

and Red:

http://www.usta.com/About-USTA/Playe...petencies_red/

[10ismom]

Excellent videos. A "must see" for parents, developmental coaches and kids.

[TCF]

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[t135]

Originally Posted by TCF

Yawn. Its all the same basic stuff coaches and parents who grab some basic tennis books or videos have taught for years. The problem with American kid's tennis has never been parents or coaches did not have access to basic techniques.

The issues have always been:

1. tennis is not cool to most kids.
2. parents rarely have the patience it takes to spend hours teaching detail after detail.
3. kids rarely have the patience to listen to anyone teach them detail after detail
4. kids like other more social sports or sports at school that make them popular.
5. to reach milestones in tennis takes time and repetitive practice, most kids are not going to do that.
6. tennis gets expensive fast once you get past the basic level.
7. elite tennis requires travel and lots of family support that most families will not provide.
8. very few kids will bust it after a yellow ball in the hot sun for hours....which is mandatory to be a very good player.

The USTA is trying to reinvent a wheel on the wrong car. Simple technique information like that has always been readily available in books or videos. Parents have taught their kids themselves with them for decades. Good coaches can teach those things with any kind of ball, low compression or regulation.

Those videos do not add a thing to the mix nor address all the issues tennis has with kids. The videos show select kids who look good performing various techniques, but they do not teach how to overcome the issues I outlined above, thus they are meaningless in the grand scheme of teaching kids tennis.

If anything they attempt to make tennis a step by step graded exam....like exams kids hate at school. "You can do this specific technique with that color ball, please proceed to step 2". I can not think of a better way to turn even more kids off to tennis.

I want every parent here to think of their own kids at age 5-11. How many could actually go through those video steps, colored ball by ball, technique by technique, month after month....without their kid losing interest within minutes? Presenting tennis in a way that slowly builds a skilled player while keeping kids interested, is an art, one not many have mastered.

Well I completely agree with you. But still appreciate the effort the USTA is making to stir interest and participation. That's what it takes to get down to the kids and parents who fit into tennis. Rehashing and repackaging that stuff is just part of the process. The cup doesn't have to be half empty.

[TCF]

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[10ismom]

Originally Posted by TCF

The money would be better spent making tennis more affordable, free instruction all the way up the ladder, clay court time, etc. Knowing the USTA they probably gave some well connected video company way too much money to make those videos.

There was never anything wrong with tennis instruction, clubs had great kids programs long before TAUT. The issues I outlined were always there and remain. Makes zero sense to spend tons to get kids into tennis with this stuff when 99.999999% of them will soon quit due to other issues.

Every penny spent on high performance and TAUT should have been used to subsidize existing programs and coaches, allow existing programs to expand into other clubs and schools, allow them to provide low or no cost programming. Lots more could have been accomplished.

The infrastructure was already in place for both kids classes and high performance at existing academies and private coaches. The USTA spent a ton building its own infrastructure due to pure ego and the control freak issues they have.

Any good organizations need to serve their members. To have the videos accessible for free deserves a praise. I give people credit when the credit is due. Glad my membership fee went into something like this.

You seem to forget that there are many kids, especially 10 under out there being coached by their parents.
These new USTA videos look cool for us parents and kids compared to the USTPA DVDs I bought from TW a few years ago. Those are the old videos repackaged in a DVD formatted. Macci looked much younger back then.
Many available videos on internet are older and nothing much about 10U tennis. Some newer ones, you have to subscribe to get a full access.

[tennisgene]

Very good videos, it is good to see that USTA is trying to get more parents and coaches involved.

[TCF]

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[tennisgene]

Originally Posted by TCF

Sorry to disagree but the vast majority of my clients and other coaches clients are flustered parents. Very, very few can teach their own kids. The ones that do stop well short of anything past the basics.

These days the number of parents even attempting to teach their kids tennis is tiny compared to even 20 years ago. Thats not what American parent-child dynamics are currently, and certainly not where they will be trending in the future. Lots of reasons, time constraints, loads of activities, travel sports, 2 parents needing to work, kids with lower attention spans due to all the technology that has developed, etc.

Thus these videos will not be used by parents at all.....you will not find more than a tiny sliver of parents/kids who could or would progress through these videos past maybe the very first few. The level of strict steps and detail would lead to parent/child frustration within minutes.

These videos are not bad or good....but they are indicative of the HUGE problem. The USTA wants to reinvent the wheel and take credit, at a large cost.

The proper way to do it would have been to identify kids programs that were working already. Lots of them existed thanks to dedicated coaches and parents all over the USA. Simply find the best, fund the founders to train and spread the program.

Same with high performance for the elite kids. Find the existing private coaches and academies that were doing a great job. Fund the elite kids to go there.

Very simple....building your own under 10 program and high performance....very expensive. Funding existing ones that worked to grow and spread....much cheaper and more likely to succeed.

Yeah right, so sorry a s s coaches like you get USTA funds, I don't think so... USTA is not stupid, they know who the best kids are and they are watching them, giving them money, supporting them, offering free training travel reimbursements etc. They are getting it done and I know it sucks for you to sit at home and wish you were involved. American youngsters are getting better and better and there are a bunch of them coming up, thanks to the USTA. USTA do have a formula that is working, it took them a few years to identify the kids since Pmac came in and we are witnessing the rise of USA tennis, it is right around the corner I think more so with girls than boys but I really think that both are on track.

[TCF]

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[klu375]

Originally Posted by TCF

Sorry to disagree but the vast majority of my clients and other coaches clients are flustered parents. Very, very few can teach their own kids. The ones that do stop well short of anything past the basics.

These days the number of parents even attempting to teach their kids tennis is tiny compared to even 20 years ago. Thats not what American parent-child dynamics are currently, and certainly not where they will be trending in the future. Lots of reasons, time constraints, loads of activities, travel sports, 2 parents needing to work, kids with lower attention spans due to all the technology that has developed, etc.

Thus these videos will not be used by parents at all.....you will not find more than a tiny sliver of parents/kids who could or would progress through these videos past maybe the very first few. The level of strict steps and detail would lead to parent/child frustration within minutes.

These videos are not bad or good....but they are indicative of the HUGE problem. The USTA wants to reinvent the wheel and take credit, at a large cost.

The proper way to do it would have been to identify kids programs that were working already. Lots of them existed thanks to dedicated coaches and parents all over the USA. Simply find the best, fund the founders to train and spread the program.

Same with high performance for the elite kids. Find the existing private coaches and academies that were doing a great job. Fund the elite kids to go there.

Very simple....building your own under 10 program and high performance....very expensive. Funding existing ones that worked to grow and spread....much cheaper and more likely to succeed.

TCF,
These videos are valuable for parents. Even if they do not attempt to teach their kid themselves they at least can get an idea how it should look like and select a competent coach who is teaching things shown in these videos. You would not believe what some people teach. I wish I watched these videos when we were starting out - we escaped from our first coach by just sheer luck

[TCF]

Originally Posted by klu375

TCF,
These videos are valuable for parents. Even if they do not attempt to teach their kid themselves they at least can get an idea how it should look like and select a competent coach who is teaching things shown in these videos. You would not believe what some people teach. I wish I watched these videos when we were starting out - we escaped from our first coach by just sheer luck

I highly doubt many parents will do that. They drop the kids off and monitor tournament wins. Always have, always will. Parents are so much busier than they were even 5 years ago. Most have their noses in their smart phones. It will be a rare parent who would monitor the videos and compare their kids. Parents that dedicated would have already found alternate resources to do so.

Had they simply invested in supporting the existing coaches and programs that were working so they could have trained other coaches and parents, it would have been much more cost effective and reached more kids.

[tennisgene]

Originally Posted by TCF

At least attempt to hide your posts so you do not get this account banned also. They are identical in look to your other 2 former accounts. Try some paragraphs maybe.

Pat Mac could not name a single boy in his program destined to be a star. He cited Harrison and Sock who had zero to do with the USTA.

The USTA has had 4 different high performance regimes since 1998.....almost 15 years....name me their success stories?

You are the one that got banned not me. There ar plenty of players coming through. In the next 1-5 years influx of Amrican players will be more than ever. The training centers that USTA has set up are bringing in the best players and very soon all the investment will start paying off.

[TCF]

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[Alohajrtennis]

Originally Posted by tennisgene

Yeah right, so sorry a s s coaches like you get USTA funds, I don't think so... USTA is not stupid, they know who the best kids are and they are watching them, giving them money, supporting them, offering free training travel reimbursements etc. They are getting it done and I know it sucks for you to sit at home and wish you were involved. American youngsters are getting better and better and there are a bunch of them coming up, thanks to the USTA. USTA do have a formula that is working, it took them a few years to identify the kids since Pmac came in and we are witnessing the rise of USA tennis, it is right around the corner I think more so with girls than boys but I really think that both are on track.

It's not Abby's Dad - welcome back Chalk! No fun picking on usta without someone feebly defending them.

Btw, nice job with fake Russian accent.

[arche3]

Originally Posted by Alohajrtennis

It's not Abby's Dad - welcome back Chalk! No fun picking on usta without someone feebly defending them.

Btw, nice job with fake Russian accent.

Soo complicated here....

[tennis5]

Originally Posted by tennisgene

Yeah right, so sorry a s s coaches like you get USTA funds, I don't think so... USTA is not stupid, they know who the best kids are and they are watching them, giving them money, supporting them, offering free training travel reimbursements etc. They are getting it done and I know it sucks for you to sit at home and wish you were involved. American youngsters are getting better and better and there are a bunch of them coming up, thanks to the USTA. USTA do have a formula that is working, it took them a few years to identify the kids since Pmac came in and we are witnessing the rise of USA tennis, it is right around the corner I think more so with girls than boys but I really think that both are on track.

Already Banned? Wow, that was quick.

So, I guess no need for you to respond, but this is not true.......


USTA is not stupid, they know who the best kids are and they are watching them, giving them money, supporting them, offering free training travel reimbursements etc.

What I have observed is the USTA up here in the North, brings kids in, trains them,

75% of the time injures them,

NO ONE SUPERVISES them 50% of the time,

And then after the kid made a sincere effort by dropping out of school and being homeschooled
( and some here know my feelings about that...),

Then they are kicked them out........


So, besides the fact that they appear clueless about who is the best.......
Their strategy seems to be throwing darts against a wall, and seeing what sticks.
Forgetting along the way that they are dealing with little people, kids who have feelings and can be injured by them.
They also do a mind trip on the kids when they kick them out and this is disastrous long term as they take away the kid's confidence
in his or her tennis abilities......

And of course, I am wondering why so much money is spent on so few players who the USTA doesn't even stand by....
Check out the Boca boys and see who got kicked out of there recently.......

[gplracer]

I guess I am in the minority. I played junior tennis. I go to my kids lessons. I listen and watch and then during the week we go out and work on what was said in the lesson. I take my kids to all of their tournaments. I try not to be outcome based but performance based as best as I can. I know I need work in that area. For me the videos are good reminders of basic swing paths, the need for sound footwork. There is not anything new in the videos.