How important are clinics for juniors?

[tennisdad2013]

I have an 11 year old boy. He turned 11 over the summer. His national ranking could be a lot higher but he has played a limited amount of Bullfrogs (southern level 2) tournaments. He has a top 100 southern ranking and a strong state ranking. I feel like I spend so much money doing clinic 2 days a week and a lesson each week. I grew up playing junior tennis and I am a 4.5 player. Usually he goes to his lesson and then hits with me to work on the things that have been taught in the lesson for reinforcement. Certainly we will keep doing the lessons. I am thinking about going to clinic one day a week. The clinic group works on things for the whole group but not exactly what he needs. Sometimes he is put with a good player at his level. Sometimes he is 2 hours on the court with people who cannot handle his pace or get that many balls back. I do not think that clinics are very systematic either. They work on somethings much more than other things.

 

[Topslice]

Are there any young juniors in your club? Like 16-18?

Ask them to hit with your son and you will pay them, not near as expensive as coaches. Some might hit for an hour for very little money.

Coaching once a week for an hour with a private coach is good, to keep him on track technically. Make sure he doesnt hit his backhand like Hewitt.

Get him to play practice matches all the time with people his level or better. When I was a junior under 14 there were 4 guys from the same club all in the top 10 rankings. Why? They played with each other for like 3 hours or more every weekend.

Keep up at least one clinic if he has friends and they play lots of games for fun. It will keep tennis interesting for him.

 

[Topspin Shot]

I'm not a fan of clinics unless they're really well run, which eliminates the vast majority of them. One plus of having your son attend a clinic is that he might find players to play with outside the clinic, but he can do the same at tournaments or with simple networking. Again, this is just my opinion, but your son's clinic doesn't sound that great, and I would consider scrapping it unless he's getting something special out of it. Maybe ask him what he thinks of it.

 

[Topspin Shot]

Are there any young juniors in your club? Like 16-18?

Ask them to hit with your son and you will pay them, not near as expensive as coaches. Some might hit for an hour for very little money.

Coaching once a week for an hour with a private coach is good, to keep him on track technically. Make sure he doesnt hit his backhand like Hewitt.

Get him to play practice matches all the time with people his level or better. When I was a junior under 14 there were 4 guys from the same club all in the top 10 rankings. Why? They played with each other for like 3 hours or more every weekend.

Keep up at least one clinic if he has friends and they play lots of games for fun. It will keep tennis interesting for him.

Ignore the comment about Hewitt's backhand. Hewitt's backhand is perfectly fine, and Topslice has a reputation around here for trolling. The rest of his advice is pretty good though.

 

[tennisdad2013]

I kind of felt the same way. I just wanted backup. Of course if you have parent that knows nothing about tennis then a clinic maybe your only option.

 

[strike1]

I had the great opportunity to talk this weekend with one of the best junior coaches in the country. He feels strongly that kids should play 1/3 of the time vs kids better than them, 1/3 with kids at about the same level, and 1/3 of the time with kids weaker. His argument was that this is what happens in real life -- in tournaments you get a big mix and if you don't practice against these kids, it is too easy to blow a match because of the burden of a match you know you "should" win. It makes sense to me and may be a reason that clinics are worthwhile if you are playing competitives vs a range of players.

 

[LeeD]

Thought EVERYONE knew that the 1/3rd ratio was the ideal to strive for.
As for group clinics, it DEPENDS on the needs of the individual junior.
Some need peers, a group ra ra atmosphere, a leader of the group who is "all knowing", while other juniors pick up traits themselves, with a little help from parents and peers.

 

[TCF]

From your original post, you pretty much answered your own question. Obviously the days he gets a good hit are valuable, the days he plays with kids who can not get the ball back are a waste of time.

More importantly, forget the rankings at that age. You should not have a clue what his ranking even is yet. Develop the game, process over outcome.

 

[tennisdad2013]

I agree about the ranking part but it has to be a certain level to get in the higher level tournaments. At this point that is the only thing the ranking is good for.

 

[mrpeterman]

My child been to a few really bad clinics but the weekly one which costs $30 is excellent. The kids have a ball. It's a 2 hour clinic with a little bit of everything but its' run in such a way that everyone is always busy hitting. The better kids get to show off a bit and the weaker ones get to strive to play as good as the more advanced kids. My son attends just because he has a blast. I'll usually stay the two hours because it's fun to watch. My son is usually more advanced then the others in this particular clinic but he still has a great time and wouldn't miss it for anything.

I look at the clinics as time for him to see his tennis friends and have a lot of fun. One on one private lessons with a credible coach is what you want if learning tennis is the main goal. Lessons and matches are where the real advances are made. The clinic my son attends is more of a social gathering for the kids (14-18yo) it's all about having fun.

 

[tennis_balla]

How many times a week does your son play? Also, does he play outside of these lessons and clinics on his own, with other juniors/players from the club? (not counting yourself).

 

[tennisdad2013]

He does clinic two days a week. He plays probably 2 other days not including hitting with me. In the last year he has played around 80 tournament matches.

 

[mrpeterman]

How many times a week does your son play? Also, does he play outside of these lessons and clinics on his own, with other juniors/players from the club? (not counting yourself).

1 hour private lesson. 2 hour clinic. 2-3 hour match play so 5-6 hour per week at the club during winter months. 10-15 hours per week in warm months. In addition he plays one tournament a month for now... will likely play more than one starting next year, his junior year.

 

[Topspin Shot]

He does clinic two days a week. He plays probably 2 other days not including hitting with me. In the last year he has played around 80 tournament matches.

The number of tournament matches seems on the high end for a kid his age. Make sure he is okay with that much competition, and he isn't neglecting his technique to win in the short term. EDIT: Wait a second, 80 matches?! As mrpeterman says, how the heck is that possible?

 

[mrpeterman]

In the last year he has played around 80 tournament matches.

80?? I've never heard of such a thing, that's 7 tournaments a month? How is that even possible? I could travel a 500 mile radius and not even find that many tournaments for my son to play..

 

[TCF]

Guys, 80 matches, not tournaments. The kid is 11, likely can mix in 10s and 12s matches, singles and doubles.

Some of these could be first to 4 games, or no ad scoring, green dots, yellow, etc. In a typical tournaments he could play 3 singles matches, many of which end rather quickly as lots of mismatches in USTAs, and 2 doubles matches. If he is strictly singles and a decent player, he will get 2 matches on Saturday and 2 on Sunday that could be 6-0, 6-1 and over in about 45 minutes.

So you can get to 80 matches in a year easily without overdoing it. One tournament every 2-3 weeks will get you there.

 

[Topspin Shot]

Guys, 80 matches, not tournaments. The kid is 11, likely can mix in 10s and 12s matches, singles and doubles.

Some of these could be first to 4 games, or no ad scoring, green dots, yellow, etc. In a typical tournaments he could play 3 singles matches, many of which end rather quickly as lots of mismatches in USTAs, and 2 doubles matches. If he is strictly singles and a decent player, he will get 2 matches on Saturday and 2 on Sunday that could be 6-0, 6-1 and over in about 45 minutes.

So you can get to 80 matches in a year easily without overdoing it. One tournament every 2-3 weeks will get you there.

That's assuming the kid keeps on winning, unless the tournaments he's playing in aren't single elimination. I was thinking singles only and single elimination, which would imply that he is playing a tournament every week, which is way too much. A tournament every 2-3 weeks makes sense even though it still seems a bit high for a young kid.

 

[TCF]

That's assuming the kid keeps on winning, unless the tournaments he's playing in aren't single elimination. I was thinking singles only and single elimination, which would imply that he is playing a tournament every week, which is way too much. A tournament every 2-3 weeks makes sense even though it still seems a bit high for a young kid.

Been at this a long time, hardly any are single elimination at that age. None are in the 10s. They have consolations or are round robins. Unless the kid is a beginner they almost always get a first round match, and 2 consolations if they do not advance in the main draw. Even the better kids here play plenty of Level 7s and none of them are single elimination.

The OP said his kid has a strong state ranking so likely he runs into plenty of easy matches. I would guess he has plenty of quick 6-0s in the early rounds like most better kids.

Even a tournament every week is not a lot if the family is into it. Practices are harder. Most tournaments are 45-60 minutes of tennis followed by 2-3 hours of heading to McDonalds or hanging out. He might get into a long slug fest in the finals now and then though.

Brooke Austin who now went pro I think played 100 plus matches a year and never had a major injury. 100 matches a year is pretty common for the better players.

 

[tennis_balla]

80 isn't uncommon, do the math.

Let's say he plays 3 matches a tournament, 2 tournaments a month. 12 months in a year, thats 72 matches. I bet he plays more than 3 matches a tournament, but just using those numbers as an example.

 

[Topspin Shot]

80 isn't uncommon, do the math.

Let's say he plays 3 matches a tournament, 2 tournaments a month. 12 months in a year, thats 72 matches. I bet he plays more than 3 matches a tournament, but just using those numbers as an example.

I didn't factor in the 3 matches a tournament because I was thinking single elimination. Now it makes sense. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[tennis_balla]

Even if it was single elimination, apparently the kid is highly ranked in his state so he'll average about 3 matches per tournament....or should anyways.

 

[tennisdad2013]

Let me put the record straight. My son has played 21 tournaments in the last year. This included our qualifier, the southern championships and a national open. He has only had one tournament where he did not win at least one match. I started this thread because I want to maximize what we are able to offer for him. It just seems that he is not always happy at clinic and it is a major financial drain on us. So we might do it less. He seems to be ok with that. Of course that means that I have to be consistent getting out with him and he needs to increase the number of practice matches he does.

 

[mrpeterman]

I have to look closer at what I'm reading. My son played 20 matches in the last 4 tournaments so he could easily have 80 matches in a single year.

 

[mrpeterman]

Let me put the record straight. My son has played 21 tournaments in the last year. This included our qualifier, the southern championships and a national open. He has only had one tournament where he did not win at least one match. I started this thread because I want to maximize what we are able to offer for him. It just seems that he is not always happy at clinic and it is a major financial drain on us. So we might do it less. He seems to be ok with that. Of course that means that I have to be consistent getting out with him and he needs to increase the number of practice matches he does.

Even though my son has a blast at the clinics, it would be the first thing eliminated if finances were a concern. In other words, I would rather him take private lessons and play practice matches and tournaments because that's where the advances are made.

 

[tennis_balla]

Also look into your son playing again other adults at the club, not just juniors. I used to do that as a junior and it helped me get more hits and play against different players so don't limit your options. Some adult won't want to play against a junior but thats their problem. I used academy/clinics as a junior when I couldn't find hits, but I can't say it was overly beneficial. I got to play that day, that was about it.

 

[Topslice]

Also look into your son playing again other adults at the club, not just juniors. I used to do that as a junior and it helped me get more hits and play against different players so don't limit your options. Some adult won't want to play against a junior but thats their problem. I used academy/clinics as a junior when I couldn't find hits, but I can't say it was overly beneficial. I got to play that day, that was about it.

Good point, some adults love playing juniors I remember an adult that hit like a 5.0 or better and used to play with me alot, he probably molded my style into defensive grinder as he was always hammering the ball but he helped me improve a huge amount.