Poll. Do you take a clinic? Private lessons? Or none? Cost?

How much do you invest in practice (not playing and hitting with no drill repetition)

  • Group clinic (How often? Cost?)

    Votes: 7 21.2%

  • Private lessons (How often? Cost?)

    Votes: 10 30.3%

  • Nothing. I just watch videos and play tennis with no external feedback.

    Votes: 16 48.5%
  • Total voters
    33
TimeToPlaySets

TimeToPlaySets

Legend
I am curious what percentage of TT readers invest in deliberate practice
(not just playing matches and random hitting with no repetition & correction drills and feeds)

I am also curious what people pay for clinics.
I just priced a local group clinic and it seems like a crazy ripoff.
$1100 for 15 weeks. That comes out to $75/session.
That's about the same cost as a private lessons. Absurd.
 
Traffic

Traffic

Hall of Fame
TimeToPlaySets said:
I am curious what percentage of TT readers invest in deliberate practice
(not just playing matches and random hitting with no repetition & correction drills and feeds)

I am also curious what people pay for clinics.
I just priced a local group clinic and it seems like a crazy ripoff.
$1100 for 15 weeks. That comes out to $75/session.
That's about the same cost as a private lessons. Absurd.
Click to expand...
I pay $22 for group clinic
$75 for private lesson
$4/Flight (weekly doubles match play)
$12/pp indoor court rental (tennis is an indoor sport if you want to play year round)
oh...$120/mo for club membership (just to have access to tennis year round)
Oh...I think I need to consolidate mine and my two kids' USTA membership to a family membership. So that should be $80/yr?

All my funds go into paying for kids tennis class ($200/mo each)
Tournaments are roughly $60ea. Not including gas and food and putting life on hold for a weekend.
My son eats strings every other week.
My daughter just needs her blue strings twice a year for her racquet to match her school colors.
I experiment with strings for the hell of it...oh this could get expensive.

So I can't afford lessons. Usually when my son is too tired from all his activities to go the full hour, I poach 20min to work on my serves and some strokes basics. We've also split lessons where we take turns hitting with the coach and getting feedback.
 
MajesticMoose

MajesticMoose

Hall of Fame
Traffic said:
I pay $22 for group clinic
$75 for private lesson
$4/Flight (weekly doubles match play)
$12/pp indoor court rental (tennis is an indoor sport if you want to play year round)
oh...$120/mo for club membership (just to have access to tennis year round)
Oh...I think I need to consolidate mine and my two kids' USTA membership to a family membership. So that should be $80/yr?

All my funds go into paying for kids tennis class ($200/mo each)
Tournaments are roughly $60ea. Not including gas and food and putting life on hold for a weekend.
My son eats strings every other week.
My daughter just needs her blue strings twice a year for her racquet to match her school colors.
I experiment with strings for the hell of it...oh this could get expensive.

So I can't afford lessons. Usually when my son is too tired from all his activities to go the full hour, I poach 20min to work on my serves and some strokes basics. We've also split lessons where we take turns hitting with the coach and getting feedback.
Click to expand...

Dam that's a lot of money spent on tennis.
 
FightMeAtTheNet

FightMeAtTheNet

Rookie
I live in Manhattan so it's not a fun financial experience.

Weekly group clinics at $80 per session (2 hours) on hard-tru. Sometimes I'll do an additional weekly group clinic on indoor hardcourts for $75 per 1.5 hours.

Public courts are open 7AM-8PM but you'll have to reserve courts in person. It's also $15 per hour per person to play. Or buy an annnual permit for $100.

Worth it for me though since I've been playing for almost 15 years and reject most other forms of exercise.
 
Traffic

Traffic

Hall of Fame
MajesticMoose said:
Dam that's a lot of money spent on tennis.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping it's just a fad.:p
Actually, we committed to supporting our kids activities. My stuff on hold. Can't play year round without a club membership. If you only play on dry days outdoors, you get to practice for like 5 weeks a year.
 
S&V-not_dead_yet

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
TimeToPlaySets said:
That's chump change. Guess what a pro tennis player spends on tennis lessons. 6 figures.
One simply does not just get good at tennis.
Click to expand...

It's irrelevant what a pro spends because none of the people responding to your poll is a pro [presumably]. And if there are pros responding to your poll, you'd do well to eliminate them from your sample as outliers.

Also, causality doesn't flow in the opposite direction: I could spend 6 figures and no way would I be a pro [although my staff might treat me as one].
 
B

Bespectacled

Rookie
I was curious too. I was beginning to think that everyone here had an entourage with a tennis coach, a strength & conditioning coach, a massage therapist, sports psychologist and a life coach for good measure.

I'm 56, been playing since I was 12 and never had a lesson. I just watch my favourite pros and try to do as they do.

I did win my city U-16 and was runner the following year way back when. But I just play for fun and haven't played a competitive set in years. For me it's recreation, but I do watch a lot of YouTube instruction. Feel Tennis is my current favourite.
 
tennis_balla

tennis_balla

Hall of Fame
I'll give you guys a quick example of the cost of top ITF junior tennis. A girl I used to coach when she was 9-10 when I was in Canada still, she's 16 now and Top 400 ITF junior. Mother told me her tennis costs roughly $3000-$4000/month. There was a Grade 4 junior ITF tournament here last week. I talked to one of the mothers of an American kid from Florida about her sons tennis and we got on the subject of costs. $3000-$4000 would of been cheap compared to what she's paying, for her son to train, travel etc.
 
mad dog1

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
tennis_balla said:
I'll give you guys a quick example of the cost of top ITF junior tennis. A girl I used to coach when she was 9-10 when I was in Canada still, she's 16 now and Top 400 ITF junior. Mother told me her tennis costs roughly $3000-$4000/month. There was a Grade 4 junior ITF tournament here last week. I talked to one of the mothers of an American kid from Florida about her sons tennis and we got on the subject of costs. $3000-$4000 would of been cheap compared to what she's paying, for her son to train, travel etc.
Click to expand...
Chump change for a guy like timetoplaysets!
 
P

Pete Player

Hall of Fame
I'm 50-yo rec player in northern Europe, who goes to tournaments about 5, 6 times a year. Mostly in the indoor season, cause I play golf in the summers.

My 1.5 hrs weekly group practice costs about 40 € weekly and private lessons about 80 a month at most on average.

Attending tournaments are between 45 and 55 depending on the venue.

That sums up to about 2'000 a year. Few occational lessons on clay and gamedays every now and then in the summer would be around 100-150€.

Hence the coaching is within a club, not an academy, so it woun't get too expensive, yet of quite high quality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
D

dgold44

G.O.A.T.
TimeToPlaySets said:
I am curious what percentage of TT readers invest in deliberate practice
(not just playing matches and random hitting with no repetition & correction drills and feeds)

I am also curious what people pay for clinics.
I just priced a local group clinic and it seems like a crazy ripoff.
$1100 for 15 weeks. That comes out to $75/session.
That's about the same cost as a private lessons. Absurd.
Click to expand...

Been taking private serve lessons a few times a month
In 15 weeks I turned a god aweful first serve into a normal 4.0 serve

Now time to work on the worst second serve of all time

I feel my first serve is good for 4.0 level
 
T

TennisCJC

Legend
$15 for 90 minute group clinic. Mostly doubles drills, 2 up vs 2 back, 1up/1back vs 1up/1back. Sometimes short feeds for approach into 2 up position. Coach feeds in lobs for overhead practice in some drills. Coach doesn't give a lot of stroke technique advice instead it's mostly tactics, movement and positioning.
 
Traffic

Traffic

Hall of Fame
TimeToPlaySets said:
That's chump change. Guess what a pro tennis player spends on tennis lessons. 6 figures.
One simply does not just get good at tennis.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call it chump change. It's quite a significant investment. But for today's juniors, that's about the minimum to keep up with average competitive players.

Imagine putting that kind of investment for an adult. Unfortunately, life happens and it's not gonna happen for me. Probably a lot of other "recreational" players too.

I enjoy tennis. I'm not sure it's my passion. That's probably mountain biking. I'm an instructor and people pay me to teach them how to ride. Do you need instruction to have fun? No. But if you'd like to improve quicker, sure does help.

To the point of professionals. I suppose we do know kids that are on track for state championships and college scholarships. They are so good they don't even bother with HS tennis. They just play for a year or two to put on college applications but find it boring and not enough competition. I'll guarantee their parents are spending minimum $10000-18000 a year to support their tennis. I'm sure to get to the pro level, you keep that up for the next 4-8 yrs.
 
Slicerman

Slicerman

Professional
Bespectacled said:
I was curious too. I was beginning to think that everyone here had an entourage with a tennis coach, a strength & conditioning coach, a massage therapist, sports psychologist and a life coach for good measure.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the spirtual guru as well.
 
RyanRF

RyanRF

Professional
  • $20 for a 90 minute group clinic (3-6 people)
  • $55 for 1 hour private lesson w/ certified coach
I've done lessons at $30-40 before, but that's with college players teaching as a side-gig.
 
G

GuyClinch

Legend
Group lessons are mostly social - but that's an important part of tennis - meeting people you can hit with. This is a real issue for the player under 4.0 crowd. Like Stan says - the better you are at tennis the more popular you are. I think this applies even at the rec level.
 
Ash_Smith

Ash_Smith

Legend
tennis_balla said:
I'll give you guys a quick example of the cost of top ITF junior tennis. A girl I used to coach when she was 9-10 when I was in Canada still, she's 16 now and Top 400 ITF junior. Mother told me her tennis costs roughly $3000-$4000/month. There was a Grade 4 junior ITF tournament here last week. I talked to one of the mothers of an American kid from Florida about her sons tennis and we got on the subject of costs. $3000-$4000 would of been cheap compared to what she's paying, for her son to train, travel etc.
Click to expand...

Yep, costs a lot to get good, costs just as much again, if not more, to stay there!

At the top end they guys I coach are looking a tournament programme cost of between £12k and £15k annually, plus training and rehab costs on top which will be at least the same again, but likely more.
 
Wander

Wander

Hall of Fame
I barely have enough money to keep buying tennis balls, shoes and strings, never took a lesson. Just hack away whenever I have time and opportunity.
 
MajesticMoose

MajesticMoose

Hall of Fame
Wander said:
I barely have enough money to keep buying tennis balls, shoes and strings, never took a lesson. Just hack away whenever I have time and opportunity.
Click to expand...

Same here. My tennis budget revolves around overgrips, tennis balls, strings and renewing my USTA membership once a year. That's it.
 
SystemicAnomaly

SystemicAnomaly

Bionic Poster
Only had 1 private lesson in my life (about 30 yrs ago & I don't recall the cost). Learned much of my tennis from college (group) classes and a little bit from parks & rec group classes. Picked up a lot from watching better players (pro players, college team players and rec players). Also learned from watching instruction and competition videos (VHS back in the day).
 
P

ptuanminh

Hall of Fame
I spent around $300 on lessons since I started. Asked for advice from better players. Watch a lot highlights. Youtube videos on things I need to improve.
 
esgee48

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
Nada now-a-days. Back in Jurassic (HS and before) learned basics from HS Coach. Had some coaching in college, but dropped out for studies. The people I currently play with will tell me what I am doing wrong, which are the normal things: get to the ball (hard when you're older) and watch the ball. Have no issues hitting any shot if I can get to it.
 
OnTheLine

OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
I pay $15 per session for group 1.5 hour clinics once per week
$12 per session for team 1.5 hour clinic once per week
$75 for 1.5 hour private lesson once or twice per month or as I feel like it
$5 for 2 hour scrambler every Saturday morning
League fees are $50 per season and include 1.5 hour of court time per week per person and all court fees and balls for matches

I think its a pretty fair cost for everything ... costs for my daughter's tennis is a different story. Gets spendy really quickly.
 
Morch Us

Morch Us

Hall of Fame
you conveniently forgot the fact that there is something else "practice without paying for a clinic or private lesson". Thats what most recreational players do. Get your buddy and practice for mutual benefit. Then go for a match with a stranger. Then make that stranger your friend and practice buddy (if you like him).
 
Traffic

Traffic

Hall of Fame
Morch Us said:
you conveniently forgot the fact that there is something else "practice without paying for a clinic or private lesson". Thats what most recreational players do. Get your buddy and practice for mutual benefit. Then go for a match with a stranger. Then make that stranger your friend and practice buddy (if you like him).
Click to expand...
I think that falls under recreational play. Which we all do,...I hope...

I think OP was asking about structured play. So structured one needs to shell out some $$ for it.
 
TimeToPlaySets

TimeToPlaySets

Legend
Morch Us said:
you conveniently forgot the fact that there is something else "practice without paying for a clinic or private lesson". Thats what most recreational players do. Get your buddy and practice for mutual benefit. Then go for a match with a stranger. Then make that stranger your friend and practice buddy (if you like him).
Click to expand...

That does not count as deliberate practice. Most rec players have zero clue how to practice.
Merely "playing" will keep you at the same level for decades, as evidenced by the majority of casual players who never get better.
Also, you will never get better by playing people your same level.
 
navigator

navigator

Hall of Fame
I took thirty 1.5 hour lessons two years back (10 from one pro, 20 from another) at $55/session. Haven't done anything else since. They were very helpful. I haven't participated in a clinic since I was a kid. I don't think they'd be particularly helpful to me.
 
Wander

Wander

Hall of Fame
It's super easy to practice. Just look up some drills and do them with your buddies.

It doesn't even require that much creativity to come up with effective drills without having to look them up... Just feed balls in different ways to one another or do rallying with specific goals in mind (like consistent placement)
 
TimeToPlaySets

TimeToPlaySets

Legend
navigator said:
I took thirty 1.5 hour lessons two years back (10 from one pro, 20 from another) at $55/session. Haven't done anything else since. They were very helpful. I haven't participated in a clinic since I was a kid. I don't think they'd be particularly helpful to me.
Click to expand...
Tell us more about your experience. It is very rate to see anyone around here commit to extend lessons.
 
TimeToPlaySets

TimeToPlaySets

Legend
Wander said:
It's super easy to practice. Just look up some drills and do them with your buddies.

It doesn't even require that much creativity to come up with effective drills without having to look them up... Just feed balls in different ways to one another or do rallying with specific goals in mind (like consistent placement)
Click to expand...

Umm, no.
 
ChaelAZ

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
Probably 90% of what I do is watch videos and practice with other players to get feedback on things I want to work on. I do clinics and enjoy cardio tennis or drills and skills classes. I just did my 5th private lesson ever in the almost 7 years of playing, but I hit with a lot of coaches so I do get freebies there.
 
ChaelAZ

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
tennis_balla said:
I'll give you guys a quick example of the cost of top ITF junior tennis. A girl I used to coach when she was 9-10 when I was in Canada still, she's 16 now and Top 400 ITF junior. Mother told me her tennis costs roughly $3000-$4000/month. There was a Grade 4 junior ITF tournament here last week. I talked to one of the mothers of an American kid from Florida about her sons tennis and we got on the subject of costs. $3000-$4000 would of been cheap compared to what she's paying, for her son to train, travel etc.
Click to expand...

I had my son doing academy camps, and a month is around $3500 to well over $7000 if you include a lot of private lessons. IMG is one of the most expensive. We looked at having him live on campus too but for a program of tennis and school it is anywhere from $45000 to over $70000 per year, plus again additional private lessons.

We have an excellent local limited JR's class taught by a top rated D1 college coach and it is a bargain for $400-$800 per month.
 
tennis_balla

tennis_balla

Hall of Fame
ChaelAZ said:
I had my son doing academy camps, and a month is around $3500 to well over $7000 if you include a lot of private lessons. IMG is one of the most expensive. We looked at having him live on campus too but for a program of tennis and school it is anywhere from $45000 to over $70000 per year, plus again additional private lessons.

We have an excellent local limited JR's class taught by a top rated D1 college coach and it is a bargain for $400-$800 per month.
Click to expand...

...add on to that tournaments and travel expenses. It's definitely not a cheap sport, but then again it never was.
 
C

coupergear

Professional
In the past 5 years I've taken 2 group lessons each were an hour and a half long and I believe they cost me $30 each. Honestly I didn't think they were worth a whole lot I felt like I could get more bang for the buck just doing internet searches and working on things on my own.
 
mad dog1

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
ChaelAZ said:
Probably 90% of what I do is watch videos and practice with other players to get feedback on things I want to work on. I do clinics and enjoy cardio tennis or drills and skills classes. I just did my 5th private lesson ever in the almost 7 years of playing, but I hit with a lot of coaches so I do get freebies there.
Click to expand...
Before I started taking lessons, my coach offered to hit with me and while it was "useful" to get exposure to the pace, heaviness and spin of his shots, my technique didn't improve much even when he offered some pointers. After working with him a year and a half, I'm at the point where the limitations to my gains are fitness, agility and athleticism. Prior to lessons I watched a lot of videos but the private instruction has helped me to improve a lot faster and reach a higher level than trying to do it myself with YouTube videos. The key is to find a good coach. I can now observe coaches and know if they are any good or not. I can also self diagnose what's going wrong with my strokes as well. That's the value of good coaching. :)
 
TimeToPlaySets

TimeToPlaySets

Legend
Tips and pointers are 1% of the solution. So, they are essentially useless.
Executing the new stroke 10,000 times is what drills/feeds/lessons are for.

It takes many lessons on a certain shot before one can self-diagnose.
I also think it's mostly a myth. Even pro ATP players can't self-diagnose.
 
R

RogueFLIP

Professional
2016 March - April weekly lessons @ $50/lesson
USTA season started May-July, and made mistake of cont lessons every week or other week depending on issue I was having. Big mistake on my part.

Sept-Nov 10 lesson package with new coach as old one moved due to new job. $115/lesson

Dec-Feb USTA season

March-April 6 lessons total, $115/lesson.

May USTA practice with teammates

June - current USTA season.

Learned to not take lessons during season, and I'm playing much better than before. Ranking may not show it, but I know that the current me would beat the me of 6 months ago, and that works for me.

Not sure of what I'll do after this season, as my coach got married and moved out of state with her husband (wah!!:()
 
M

Mark Asher

Rookie
Basically self-taught through playing, though had two lessons when I was twelve and the takeaway was that I learned to use continental for serve. Played on my high-school team and the one tip from the coach was to swing hard and spin in the second serve, and I took that heart and have had a good second ever since.

I do want to take a few lessons now just to have someone observe my strokes and point out a few things. I'm not breaking the bank to take lessons or play tennis, though. I can play for free on public courts. I may pay something to get some tennis in over the winter months.
 
StringSnapper

StringSnapper

Hall of Fame
Im a cheapskate, biggest expense is $380 club membership (but we have grass).

I was lucky buying my racket, i got the older model of the babolat pure strike and it was the last one they had. So the guy sold me the demo as well for $50!

Never had lessons or anything, but i didnt start till 20. Youtube and this place has been my teacher. I also found videoing myself helpful, aswell as joining a club and playing ib a league. Different players expose different things. I feel like im an all-court player now. Im comfortable at the baseline, but like to come in to volley when the opportunity is there. Or even just to mix it up. Puts a lot of pressure on opponents doing this.

I also joined the topspeedtennis website onlibe coaching for a month (it was only $1) and that helped my serve and volley. Its funny, because i joined because my forehad was bad. I didnt like his forehand advice (lag and snap, and open stance) but really found the serve and volley info helpful. I now use a neutral stance forehand as my default and no intentional snap thats for sure (too inconsistent).

Footwork is so huge in tennis. You have to find what works for you. I find stretching my achilles and wearing tight shoes arouhd my heel essential for injuries. Also i like grooving the same forehand and backhand footwok patterns in over and over for rhythm and consistency. I think its individual though. A lot of players love open stance, but i hit neutral off both wings.
 
Wander

Wander

Hall of Fame
How big are the groups in these group lessons people are talking about? The local tennis club's website here says it'll group the people who apply for lessons into groups of 4. In the indoor season (I'm in Finland) it costs 462€ for 18 1.5h sessions (comes at 25.7€ per session). In the summer they do groups of 20 though for 15€ per session, but that sounds like it would be much less useful.
 
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