14 year old player, how long should my private lesson sessions be?

[Deleted member 56360]

Hey everyone, quick question here. Allow me to first tell you that I am fourteen years old and starting this summer, I will have a private tennis coach for the rest of my tennis career. Currently, we've worked out a 60$/hour lesson. Each lesson will be one hour and I'll have two lessons per week. Is that a good deal? Is that good enough for me to make it very far in tennis? Please answer yall; I am in dire need of some great responses. Thanks

 

[Claudius]

Hey everyone, quick question here. Allow me to first tell you that I am fourteen years old and starting this summer, I will have a private tennis coach for the rest of my tennis career. Currently, we've worked out a 60$/hour lesson. Each lesson will be one hour and I'll have two lessons per week. Is that a good deal? Is that good enough for me to make it very far in tennis? Please answer yall; I am in dire need of some great responses. Thanks

It's a pretty good deal. Know that in order to get better, you're going to need to play better players. Do you play USTA?

 

[Deleted member 56360]

Thanks Claudius for the fast reply! I currently am not in the USTA. However, I am joining very soon...Meaning tomorrow or the next day. Haha. In addition to my lessons, there are many great players at my local tennis court who I play with for 2-4 hours a day. I am on the court for a minimum of 15 hours a week though usually about 21 hours a week.

 

[sctennis1]

Thanks Claudius for the fast reply! I currently am not in the USTA. However, I am joining very soon...Meaning tomorrow or the next day. Haha. In addition to my lessons, there are many great players at my local tennis court who I play with for 2-4 hours a day. I am on the court for a minimum of 15 hours a week though usually about 21 hours a week.

it really has nothing to do with how long you are on the court for. you have to be focused throught your practice and practice smartly focus on your technique and repeat it a million times dont even relax your mind or get lazy for a second.

 

[Deleted member 56360]

it really has nothing to do with how long you are on the court for. you have to be focused throught your practice and practice smartly focus on your technique and repeat it a million times dont even relax your mind or get lazy for a second.

Thank you for the sweet advice; much appreciated. I usually tend to try to make the most out of my time as possible anyway.

 

[Bagumbawalla]

The length and number of sessions has little to do with your age 14 (though, if you are just starting, that is a bit late), but more on the level of play you aspire to, your attention span, the rate at which you learn and develop as a player, your ability to practice with other partners, and the amount that you can spend on lessons without having to eat Spam three times a week.

Sixty dollars per hour lesson is not outrageous, but also depends on the quality and depth of the instruction. Often times when you subscribe to a service with a long term contract (cable tv for example) you will get a special rate/discount. Not knowing this instructor's normal rate or his/her ability, I don't know if this is a good deal or just normal.

How far you will get in tennis is mainly up to you, your desire to always be inproving, you ability to soak up instruction, your perservernece in getting into shape, your genetics, height, natural athleticism and co-ordination, and so on.

Having said that, I believe that it would be impossible to reach the highest levels of tennis without a coach/instructor. So, you are on the right track.

I suggest that you continue with this arrangement for the time being and ,also, begin tournament play. Test yourself and push yourself and see how things go. You can always make adjustments in the future.

You may find that you are a tennis natural and the sky's the limit (a rare thing), or you may find that you prefer to play the oboe.

Good luck and let us us know how it goes for you.

 

[Devilito]

$60/ hour is crazy. I'd try and get into a competitive group with 3-4 other players and 1 coach. You'll get more experience and improvement playing, training and socializing with other competitive players your age than doing nothing but private lessons with the same guy. Or better yet, mix it up. A private once/ week mixed in with a group that trains 3 times/ week.

 

[Deleted member 56360]

Thank you Bagumbawlla. I'll make certain to tell you how I go with the tennis. Umm... Yes, tournament play is something I'd love to sink my teeth into right away. My coach and I have known each other for a long time. He was my coach for a few years in group lessons at Port Washington Tennis Academy in Long Island, New York. We have quite a connection. :twisted:

 

[Deleted member 56360]

$60/ hour is crazy. I'd try and get into a competitive group with 3-4 other players and 1 coach. You'll get more experience and improvement playing, training and socializing with other competitive players your age than doing nothing but private lessons with the same guy. Or better yet, mix it up. A private once/ week mixed in with a group that trains 3 times/ week.

60$ an hour is crazy? For the longest time, I've thought that that was perfectly fine. On the tennis channel I remember seeing a commercial that said "[E]xpect to pay 40-120$ per hour for private lessons". I also remember seeing around this forum that private lessons is where you see "real" improvement in your tennis game. By opting to sign with a coach who's main focus is solely me, that makes total sense.

 

[Blake0]

So you're 14 and want to get far in tennis...2 hours of private a week, sounds good to me, as long as you hit at other times too ofcourse. Tournaments are a must. but yeah $60 an hour is about average. If you want to make it in tennis, you'll need lots of quality work, not useless quantity. but ofcourse a lot of quality work is even better .

 

[Deleted member 56360]

So you're 14 and want to get far in tennis...2 hours of private a week, sounds good to me, as long as you hit at other times too ofcourse. Tournaments are a must. but yeah $60 an hour is about average. If you want to make it in tennis, you'll need lots of quality work, not useless quantity. but ofcourse a lot of quality work is even better .

Haha! Yes, that's what I wanted to hear! Thanks! :twisted:

 

[Jay_The_Nomad]

For the best bang for your buck, I suggest that for every lesson you have, you back that up with at least 2-3 very solid hitting sessons with a sparring partner or a ball machine.

Coaching is good, but don't forget practise.

Since you're having 2 lessons per week, that means you should be at the courts every day of the week - no social life, academic life will suffer etc.

If you don't plan to be on court everyday, you'll be better off going 1 lesson per week & backing that up with 3 hitting sessions for a total of 4/7 days.

And to answer your question, an hour long session is enough to get pointers & work on your form: you must take that away and practise. Two consecutive hours, I find that there will be diminishing returns.

There is only so much the brain can absorb.

 

[Cindysphinx]

+1. You are very, very fortunate to have the time and the money for such instruction.

I would add that it is really important at all times to do everything your coach says in terms of technique, grips, etc. That stuff will not seem to matter in the beginning (or actually be more difficult than what you might get away with when no one is looking), but it will bite you in the behind later if you get in the habit of doing it wrong. Also, hit your shots correctly in practice matches and resist the urge to improvise.

It will all come down to how and whether you practice. Good luck!!!

 

[mikeler]

$60/ hour is crazy. I'd try and get into a competitive group with 3-4 other players and 1 coach. You'll get more experience and improvement playing, training and socializing with other competitive players your age than doing nothing but private lessons with the same guy. Or better yet, mix it up. A private once/ week mixed in with a group that trains 3 times/ week.

Yes, group lessons in addition to your private lessons are a good idea too. It will give you some extra practice and may help you find additional hitting partners.

 

[Deleted member 56360]

Thanks again guys! I'm really happy that I decided to join this message board. You all are providing me with the best advice I have ever heard.

 

[Cindysphinx]

Ask your coach for hitting partners also. He should know people at your level.

 

[MNPlayer]

Sounds like a good plan, and here in MN, $60/hr is quite reasonable if your coach is good. I think it is hard to replace the technical instruction you get from private lessons any other way. You will get focused attention on your strokes that you'll never see in drills (in my experience, anyway). As others have said, though, you also need match play and other types of practice to improve.

A little coaching goes a long way if you take advantage of it. I have been doing a 1 hour private lesson each week for over a year now and my game has gotten much, much better. I'm much older than you too - didn't start playing at all until my twenties. A young person like yourself would probably learn faster. I also play almost every other day as well through in USTA/team practice/hitting.

My suggestion would be the following: treat the lessons as a time to learn what to change & the ideal way to do things. Then practice what you learn like crazy, taking feedback as you go at each coaching session. Do not expect everything to feel natural right away. If you doubt what your coach tells you, videotape yourself and I'll bet he's right. Video is another super useful tool for (self) instruction.

 

[saeta119]

damn $60/hr. you should try and come down to South America, learn the way of the clay, haha.

I'm so glad I train down here, I pay my coach $6/hr, yep that's right 6, and well $2 for courts.
Biggest advantage I've found here is clay which is less hard on your knees and my coach is a retired pro from Cuba.

But anyways, yes for that price you def want to do some practices on your own time, remember what your coach told you, try and schedule a couple of practice matches with better players so you learn more too.

but above all, have fun

 

[Devilito]

damn $60/hr. you should try and come down to South America, learn the way of the clay, haha.

I'm so glad I train down here, I pay my coach $6/hr, yep that's right 6, and well $2 for courts.
Biggest advantage I've found here is clay which is less hard on your knees and my coach is a retired pro from Cuba.

But anyways, yes for that price you def want to do some practices on your own time, remember what your coach told you, try and schedule a couple of practice matches with better players so you learn more too.

but above all, have fun

what country?