advice for my son

[chaggie]

My son has been taking tennis lesson over a year and half.
He will be 6 years old in January.

The issue I have with his coach is to pick his dominant hand.
He started as a lefty but about 6 months ago, his coach discovered that he can hit with both hands.

We let him play ambidextrous for 6 months to choose which hand will be more dominant. We got the following results over 6 months of monitoring his progress:

A+: two hands (left side)
A-: one hand (left side)

B+: one hand (right side)
C: two hands (right side)

Based on the result, his coach told me that he should play two hands on the left side (A+) and one hand on the right side (B+). Even though this makes sense in terms of picking the best option for each side, the problem is this will make him a right hand player.

His reasoning was to pick the best (two hands on the left and one hand on the right) on each side to maximize his strength.

However, he is clearly lefty, he throws a ball with left hand and bat left, even though he writes and eat with his right hand.

Please comment if you have any suggestions or feedback on this.
Thank you.

 

[javierjavier]

there are plenty of instances of players in all kinds of sports succeeding with their non-dominant hand.

the perfect example is rafa, who is right handed by plays left handed.

what does he say he prefers? even if he doesn't have a preference now, i think as an added bonus it would be it'd be a lot easier for him to switch later on.

 

[TennisCoachFLA]

You have a great situation.....do NOT have him pick a dominant side yet. Research shows (Dr. Jozef Drabik, Children's Sports Training), that there is transference from one side to the other at a young age. In short, of your child shows any ability on both sides, let him switch back and forth until at least age 10. The other benefits are huge for a 6 year old, less wear and tear, and equal development of the musculature on both sides of the spine.

Long term...I would hope he goes lefty since he is strong on that side. The different look he will give most opponents will give him an advantage in many matches.

 

[GetBetterer]

Ambidextrous opponent's are the toughest opponent's I have ever dealt with.

However, these are grading scales based on a certain system. You may want to develop your child's strokes based on his abilities to hit comfortably.

If he's comfortable hitting left-handed with his forehand, then I would recommend letting him. Same thing with his backhand as well.

It may help us to know how that grading scale is determined. Is it determined by his actual hitting abilities, his arm usage, or is it based on how many balls he got over the net?

 

[AV1]

My daughter is 6 as well. She's a natural lefty but she's capable of hitting both right and left handed. She can hit two-handed backhands off both sides and one-handed forehands off each wing as well.
She's pretty comparable left and right handed but what sealed the deal was that she throws more naturally and powerfully with her left hand which would obviously translate to her service motion. So, she's a lefty on the courts.

 

[decades]

you are the father. he is the coach. do I have to explain this any more or do you get "it"?

 

[Ptrac]

How can a stroke be A+ when he is only 6 years old? Each and every one of your son's strokes need to improve, so deciding which side is better RIGHT NOW is a stupid idea. Find a new coach and have your son become a lefty.

 

[rice&tennis]

i think you should find out which foot is dominant, or which footed he is, so its easier for him to serve and kick/step off on groudstrokes.

 

[David Backhand]

However, he is clearly lefty, he throws a ball with left hand and bat left, even though he writes and eat with his right hand.
Thank you.

Most lefties aren't 100% leftie. Only a relatively small number of them use their left hand for all activities (like most righties). Most lefties use different hands for different activities, with the left usually being the more dominant. If he hits better as a rightie, than he should play as a rightie. It doesn't really matter if you define him as "leftie" because of the other things he does.

I, for example, am a leftie. I eat and write with my left, dominant eye is left. Play tennis like a rightie, throw basketball like a rightie, kick soccer ball with right foot.

 

[Jay_The_Nomad]

Which hand does he throw with?

Which foot does he kick with?

Also be sure to get input from your son himself. Even though he is young, if he tells you he is comfortable with a particular shot it is important info.

 

[charliefedererer]

Be careful assessing advice here. Give more thought to those that have have actually faced this, especially if you have the chance to directly ask qualified pros in your area. (Your pro may have already given the overwhelming opinion, but I just don't know.)
Here at TT, TennisCoachFLA may be giving you the best advice to hold off on choosing right now. And AV1 raises the interesting aspect of which side he will serve from. It would be impossibly awkward to have to switch sides from a serve to the opposite side for a forehand. How do you know he would not ultimately do best as a left hand server, left hand forehand, left 1HBH as he grows and his musclulature/coordination increase?

 

[86golf]

Questions for OP: are you using foam balls, low compression or regular tennis balls? What size racquet?

I have a similar situation. My son is a month younger and he is just now starting to hit balls. He mostly bats lefty at Tee Ball but sometimes coach forgets and lines him up righty. My experience with tennis lessons have been limited to kid clinics and I've been turned off. They do a cookie cutter approach and assume everyone is right handed unless the kid specifically tells them otherwise. They teach two handed backhand and one handed forehand, always.

My son is hitting double handed both sides and we are using flat tennis balls fed from a ball machine and he is using a 23" racquet. I elected not to go down the faux tennis ball route and playing two handed allows him to use a heavier racquet which is better for tennis balls. I'm not putting any stock into which is his dominate side, atleast for now. I'm more concerned with him getting comfortable hitting the ball over the net and making contact on the strings. If he starts to get more consistent, we may look into some private lessons from our pro that hits two handed off both sides.

 

[ProgressoR]

he writes with his right but is clearly a leftie?? doesnt make sense. Let him be, he will work it out soon enough.

 

[chaggie]

Thanks for suggestions and inputs.

I asked my son a couple of times since he played tennis which hand he feels more comfortable with and he raised his left hand. When I hit with my son, he always hits with left 1HFH. BTW, I hit with left hand.

He hits regular tennis balls with a 21" racquet.
He can hit balls over the net consistently from the service line when we feed him balls. He has started to hit from the half way between the service line and the base line (1HFH) and I can see he has more power in the left hand.

In fact, I am ambidextrous myself. (can write with either hands with the same speed and accuracy, can throw balls with either hands).

The grade we gave was based on number of shots he hit over the net when we feed him balls from the service line, half way between the service line and the base line and the base line. Ground stroke only.

A+: two hands (left side)
A-: one hand (left side)

B+: one hand (right side)
C: two hands (right side)

He started to learn serve this week.
I think I will try to video tape when he hits from both sides and post it for feedback.

 

[GetBetterer]

chaggie:

The grade we gave was based on number of shots he hit over the net when we feed him balls from the service line, half way between the service line and the base line and the base line. Ground stroke only.

Just as I suspected... I'm not entirely sure if that's the best grading system. I was always judged on my form, not whether the balls went over the net or not. You can do a poor moonball on the thing and get it over.

Anyways, thanks for the update on your son, my best of luck to him!

 

[TennisCoachFLA]

Thanks for suggestions and inputs.

I asked my son a couple of times since he played tennis which hand he feels more comfortable with and he raised his left hand. When I hit with my son, he always hits with left 1HFH. BTW, I hit with left hand.

He hits regular tennis balls with a 21" racquet.
He can hit balls over the net consistently from the service line when we feed him balls. He has started to hit from the half way between the service line and the base line (1HFH) and I can see he has more power in the left hand.

In fact, I am ambidextrous myself. (can write with either hands with the same speed and accuracy, can throw balls with either hands).

The grade we gave was based on number of shots he hit over the net when we feed him balls from the service line, half way between the service line and the base line and the base line. Ground stroke only.

A+: two hands (left side)
A-: one hand (left side)

B+: one hand (right side)
C: two hands (right side)

He started to learn serve this week.
I think I will try to video tape when he hits from both sides and post it for feedback.

Dad...I can not say this strongly enough....hitting regular balls with a 21 inch stick is HORRIBLE for kids. That size racquet is designed to use with low compression balls like Prince Stay and Play Stage 2 or 3.

The stress put on a child that age's arm hitting a hard regulation ball with a tiny racquet is huge. Try it yourself for a few weeks. It is like hitting a rock with a fly swatter.

 

[kiteboard]

LEt him hit with two fh.

 

[PimpMyGame]

As long as your son carries on enjoying his tennis I'm sure he'll find whatever suits him best.

If for any reason it doesn't become fun anymore then he won't want to use any hands.

 

[arche3]

If your son likes his left hand better just have him play lefty. No use seeing which side is better if he favors a left handed forehand. He will be developing his strokes for awhile so just go with it. And if he throws with his left hand it will be better for his serves if he plays left handed. plus the fact that lefties have a small advantage in a lot of cases.

And the coach is thinking way too hard on this imo. basically youve just cut his practice down to half in regards to your sons ball striking as he is changing sides. Tennis is all about repetition. your son needs to hit a BUNCH of balls with the correct strokes and he will improve,. No way around hitting a bunch of balls. PICK a side and start wacking the ball around.

 

[Slazenger07]

You should teach him to play left handed...and to hit a one-handed backhand you'll thank me later.

 

[saigonbond]

Greetings,
I've taught many kids similar to your son. At only 6, let him play however he feels comfortable. There's no reason to have to choose being that young. He won't really build much strength and coordination until he's 10-12.
Ultimately the hand he serves more comfortably with in time will determine if he's a lefty or righty. In my experience, most of the kids end up going with their throwing hand. Just continue to let him have fun with no pressure.
There's no reason you can't get a second opinion of another reputable teaching pro or coach, just like a doctor.
At 6 years old, your opinion should far outweigh your son's coach.
Cheers!