ideas about racket for 8 years old girl?

[7zero]

I really tried to search all forums just not to bother with same question, but I could not find anything, so here we go:
daughter 8 years old (135cm tall, skinny) training cca 2 times 1 hour lesson per week for last 14 months. Playing with coach´s provided older (I couldn´t find it in recent models) Tecnifibre racket - Bullit 63 (25 inch?) - I think it is aluminium or combined alu/carbon - not sure. She is complaining about wrist and hits are very weak, hardly making to baseline on other side. I am not sure if there is problem with racket (if yes I would be pleased to hear your opinion about what to get her) or is she just not athletic type enough to get it flowing. especially after reading and seeing videos on TT of 7 years prodigies playing adult rackets and swinging like Rafa I am in doubt maybe she just not having IT.. Talk with her coach is not really helping - he is bit of old school guy not really into technical part of equipment.
I would appreciate your views, as I found these forum pages amazing source of knowledge for me.
many thanks

t.

 

[newpball]

Two questions:

1. Does she play for fun as well or is her sole tennis activity two hours a week of lessons?
2. What kind of balls does she play with?

 

[7zero]

- I play with her when I have time but that is maximum another extra hour per week. otherwise she has no opportunity to play with anone at home or so during rest of week
- last two month coach train with her (rather them they are two girls sharing lesson) playing regular balls - before they played with softer (yellow/green) kind of balls half time half time regular.

 

[gameboy]

I would recommend getting a serious junior racquet 26/25 inch and string it with a full bed of gut. At that age my daughter used 26in Head prestige with a fullbed of gut and it worked great for her. She moved up to Babolat Pure Drive Lite full size when she turned 11.

 

[7zero]

I would recommend getting a serious junior racquet 26/25 inch and string it with a full bed of gut. At that age my daughter used 26in Head prestige with a fullbed of gut and it worked great for her. She moved up to Babolat Pure Drive Lite full size when she turned 11.

thanks for tip - so I asume her raket is wreck
is there any difference at this stage between boys and girls - I mean are there any specialized rackets for girls or just unisex?

 

[djosbun]

Isn't a 25" racquet too large for an 8 year old? Unless she's the same size as 10 year olds wouldn't a 23" be a better fit?

 

[newpball]

- I play with her when I have time but that is maximum another extra hour per week. otherwise she has no opportunity to play with anone at home or so during rest of week

That is sad. So nobody else in your family plays tennis? Could you find a child in her school class that plays tennis too perhaps you can share supervision with another parent?

The function of tennis lessons is to apply what you learn when you go out and play tennis right? So I wonder 14 months of lessons for what?

With respect to the size I think a 25 is just fine but I would recommend the orange balls.

 

[BLX_Andy]

thanks for tip - so I asume her raket is wreck
is there any difference at this stage between boys and girls - I mean are there any specialized rackets for girls or just unisex?

When you start getting serious about using racquets there's no such thing as gender-specific racquets . But usually the "Lite" or "Team" versions of a racquet are used by females.

 

[newpball]

Isn't a 25" racquet too large for an 8 year old? Unless she's the same size as 10 year olds wouldn't a 23" be a better fit?

My son who just turned 6 plays with a 25'' just fine. Anything smaller and there is not much to swing because it is almost all head.

 

[7zero]

That is sad. So nobody else in your family plays tennis? Could you find a child in her school class that plays tennis too perhaps you can share supervision with another parent?

The function of tennis lessons is to apply what you learn when you go out and play tennis right? So I wonder 14 months of lessons for what?

With respect to the size I think a 25 is just fine but I would recommend the orange balls.

maybe I don´t get it - part of her lessons is playing rallies with her co-student of her age. Coach load the ball into her from basket and then they try to exchange it. Problem is they hardly can play more than 2-4 hit rallies. Multiplication of two not very good players errors I think. So it is not like I do not want to play with her more - it is just intensity is very low because of the errors. I guess when playing with coach she will make 3 times more hits than whn playing with her friends only.
another factor is time - we do not have court backyard she would just go outside and hang around and play like she wants. we have to commute to the tennis courts, book hour and go back.
People who play tennis told me not to try to teach her myself to avoid mistakes and wrong habits (i am not a pro), So I guessed best way how to get improvement is to let her learn from coach. So I do not understand that part about what 14 month was what for. I thought that was the best thing to make her to progress without learning my unstylidh game ..

but thanks for tips - will think about new racket and definetely gut strings will come. I registered that HEAD recomandantion, any more tips for serious racket? Tecnifibre rebound is fine?

 

[newpball]

another factor is time - we do not have court backyard she would just go outside and hang around and play like she wants. we have to commute to the tennis courts, book hour and go back.

I sometimes do not realize how blessed I am with readily access to public tennis courts. Within a 20 minutes drive we have around 60 public courts. Not all of them are in top condition but they are reasonable and have lights for the evening and most of the time there is no problem finding an empty court.

If you play tennis then I strongly suggest you involve her as well. There is nothing better than a family playing tennis together.

 

[7zero]

I sometimes do not realize how blessed I am with readily access to public tennis courts. Within a 20 minutes drive we have around 60 public courts. Not all of them are in top condition but they are reasonable and have lights for the evening and most of the time there is no problem finding an empty court.

If you play tennis then I strongly suggest you involve her as well. There is nothing better than a family playing tennis together.

That is amazing advantage.. I have to relocate to sunny California.
So no other tips for rackets from pros who trained children? Maybe I should post in different section (junior training advice)?

 

[Tamiya]

I can only share what I have learnt via recent kiddy racquet modding;
stock they don't work well against std balls.

Most kiddy sticks weigh in at around 180-220g and have not enough
mass against a std ball (59g)... kiddy balls are ~40g.

Add a ton of lead tape to the hoop and they work a lot better
heck I even leaded a 19" and strung it in poly


All the alu/alloy kiddy sticks are in same boat, they only get "serious"
when it gets to 26" and the frames are 1pc carbon = no separate bridge.
Got a Prince Sharapova 26 that amazed me how serious it was,
plays better than any big name full size entry level frame IMHO.


And yea, there's difference in boys vs girls sticks the pretty ones come in pink

 

[7zero]

I can only share what I have learnt via recent kiddy racquet modding;
stock they don't work well against std balls.

Most kiddy sticks weigh in at around 180-220g and have not enough
mass against a std ball (59g)... kiddy balls are ~40g.

Add a ton of lead tape to the hoop and they work a lot better
heck I even leaded a 19" and strung it in poly


All the alu/alloy kiddy sticks are in same boat, they only get "serious"
when it gets to 26" and the frames are 1pc carbon = no separate bridge.
Got a Prince Sharapova 26 that amazed me how serious it was,
plays better than any big name full size entry level frame IMHO.


And yea, there's difference in boys vs girls sticks the pretty ones come in pink

thanks for tip: I will check that Prince 26
I am a bit afraid putting led - more weght.. she looks struggling even swinging it as it is..
all agreed with pinky stuff (or rather purple for my miss)

 

[7zero]

haven´t found any new Sharapova.. only used.. Hasn´t she signed HEAD? From Prince range this looks like girl one: http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/Prince_Pink_26_Junior_Racquet/descpageRCPRINCE-PINK26.html

 

[Tamiya]

the Sharapova is a few yrs old, think its from O3 era... even came with a pink Prince-branded rubberband damper

Plays great stock, no lead needed.
I tried a few different strings just out of curiosity but syngut works fine.

But it's a 26" though, might be too long too soon for your girl yet.

My (nearly) 7yo still on 21".
Usually plays with a vintage aluminium (+lead) Ti Agassi 21
but last week I dragged home a Prince Star-6 21
which she took fancy to & insisted on using today.

Worked ok stock on orange balls; ok stock apart from tacky overgrip.

 

[7zero]

thanks for your comments, I appreciate that

 

[newpball]

My (nearly) 7yo still on 21".
Usually plays with a vintage aluminium (+lead) Ti Agassi 21

To each his own but to me this does not make any sense whatsoever.

If your kid needs more swing weight then use a larger racket don't use lead.
My son just turned six and is doing fine with a 25'' racket.

Besides I would not let my children come anywhere near to lead for obvious reasons.

stock they don't work well against std balls.
...
Add a ton of lead tape to the hoop and they work a lot better
heck I even leaded a 19" and strung it in poly

I missed this, this is beyond ridiculous in my honest opinion.

 

[7zero]

it is getting complicated it seems.. how shall I make my mind with such a different advises.. :shock:

 

[Tamiya]

To each his own but to me this does not make any sense whatsoever.
If your kid needs more swing weight then use a larger racket don't use lead.
My son just turned six and is doing fine with a 25'' racket.

Nah she needed more plough-thru and wasn't getting enough head speed.
I've collected 19/21/23/25" sticks so its not hard to diagnose by T&E.
With smaller heads she was missing sweetspot & framing the balls often;
that vintage Agassi has a crazy huge stringbed for a 21... could be 100sq"

Works for her right now, has decent chance of returning balls over the net
and methink we've cracked the code for getting her interested in this game.

Future investment as hitting partner...

Besides I would not let my children come anywhere near to lead for obvious reasons.

does EVERYTHING really cause cancer in the State of California? :shock:

there's probably more tin than real lead in weight tape,
plus most fancy brands have plastic laminate all over anyways.
Elemental lead doesn't do harm unless you ingest or inhale it.

I missed this, this is beyond ridiculous in my honest opinion.

haha it was an answer to a "what if" Q that a friend asked,
wondering if we could ever make a 19" hit std balls

Got given a pair of 19s... = good for back2back testing/tinkering.

Another friend got his ProStaff strung up in a hairthin red poly so we
used the same string in the 19 just to rub it in whenever he has an off day.
Y'know, mind games... :twisted:

 

[Tamiya]

it is getting complicated it seems.. how shall I make my mind with such a different advises.. :shock:

If you wanna spend some $$$ & have a good shop nearby, go shopping!

Today I blew 3hrs at local proshop shooting the breeze but also got to peek
at their new dedicated kiddy stick rack. Pretty wide range now available
from the bignames (Prince, Head, Babs, Wilson etc) for Junior versions
of their adult pro sticks, done in 25 or 26"... priced ~$79-129
vs $229-289 for adult. (I am in Australia, yeah we get ripped bad)

19-23 all still alu/alloy afaik; also some 17" starting to appear.

Gee I might have to try one for pingpong :twisted:

 

[Brocolt]

My 8 year daughter plays a few times a week her older brother is a top ranked junior. She plays with a 26" babolat aero pro junior with the yellow balls and a 25" babolat with the orange balls. She is just starting to move up to the aeropro light for the yellow balls and actually prefers it over the 26". I have since moved her brother into a softer framed rackets and moved away from babolats now that he can generate his own power. But with the really light rackets you need some stiffness to generate any power. I string her rackets with an 18 gauge multi so she breaks them in about 2 months right now. Her brother at 8 years old could break 18 gauge multis in 10 days.

 

[dufferok]

My daughter just turned 8 and is playing with a Wilson 25" BLX racket. She started at age 4 with 19" and red balls and has worked her way up to orange balls and 25" racket. She could go on to green spot or yellow balls but we are staying with the orange ball for now, as that is what USTA uses for 10 and under competition.

 

[Tamiya]

haha this morning I went to annoy another LPS

they also had a good range of big names Jnr versions;
interestingly Fisher/Pacific has got some "serious" frames
going down to 23"

LOL'd that Babs even made a Jnr 25 in Roland Garros livery

 

[NickJ]

I really tried to search all forums just not to bother with same question, but I could not find anything, so here we go:
daughter 8 years old (135cm tall, skinny) training cca 2 times 1 hour lesson per week for last 14 months. Playing with coach´s provided older (I couldn´t find it in recent models) Tecnifibre racket - Bullit 63 (25 inch?) - I think it is aluminium or combined alu/carbon - not sure. She is complaining about wrist and hits are very weak, hardly making to baseline on other side. I am not sure if there is problem with racket (if yes I would be pleased to hear your opinion about what to get her) or is she just not athletic type enough to get it flowing. especially after reading and seeing videos on TT of 7 years prodigies playing adult rackets and swinging like Rafa I am in doubt maybe she just not having IT.. Talk with her coach is not really helping - he is bit of old school guy not really into technical part of equipment.
I would appreciate your views, as I found these forum pages amazing source of knowledge for me.
many thanks

t.

How about that 98" thing Federer has been using . . . .

 

[7zero]

thanks brocolt and dufferok for your experience shared..
@nickJ - I have considered that but Roger didn´t pick my calls

I guess I will change strings to multi and play more with orange kid balls despite what her trainer think about it. next season I will find some nice hello-kitty-kind-of-livery 26 frame

 

[Roberto_spin]

A graphite racquet is a must at a certain point if a kid is playing better and better.

My daughter of 7 plays with a Wilson BLX 23" pink graphite. It was the only graphite I could find. It's a bit heavy tough...

25" and 26" might be to long... depends on their technique and swing...

You could try the different 25" graphite options or make this one a bit shorter (cut 1" of the handle)

 

[newpball]

does EVERYTHING really cause cancer in the State of California? :shock:

there's probably more tin than real lead in weight tape,
plus most fancy brands have plastic laminate all over anyways.
Elemental lead doesn't do harm unless you ingest or inhale it.

Sure, just keep joking about those things. Lead is very dangerous for young children and can severely affect mental and physical development. Even small quantities are dangerous.

Go ahead and have you child play with a racket with tons of lead tape (and yes lead tape contains lead, it is almost all lead) and yes go ahead put polyester string on the racket while you are at it. I am sure your seven year old is responsible and never touches the tape and always washes his or her hands after playing tennis.

I am sure you will get lots of high fives and endorsements from other "responsible" parents on this forum.

 

[Steve Huff]

Is she enjoying taking lessons? Is she begging to play more? If the answer to the 1st is yes, 2nd no, then keep doing things just the way you're doing them. Babolat, Wilson, Volkl all make really good 25-26" long junior rackets. Go to TW homepage and type in "junior rackets" in the search box. See what comes up.

 

[lightthestorm]

One of the most talented junior girls I've ever met uses a full 27'' 11 oz racket (Head Instinct, stiff racket). She is btw, a 4th grader that's 4'5 on a good day (cross that, a GREAT day). Doesn't weigh a lot as you can imagine... maybe a touch

But she's so good. Just turned 9 and she's been playing 12s for the last year (good enough to be on zonals for that age group, took a 3 star 14s player to 3rd set), absolutely crushes her backhand.

Then on the other side, there's kids who still use prestrung/junior rackets at that age. Kids who play for fun, little to no tournaments, weekend or once a week thing.

Just let her try both out. She really might enjoy a full size... never know.

 

[7zero]

Is she enjoying taking lessons? Is she begging to play more? If the answer to the 1st is yes, 2nd no, then keep doing things just the way you're doing them. Babolat, Wilson, Volkl all make really good 25-26" long junior rackets. Go to TW homepage and type in "junior rackets" in the search box. See what comes up.

That's interesting view - yes she is enjoying lessons, not begging for more play on her own, but when I take her to play with me, not complaining either. I am sure she is not next Sharapova, but I am not keeen to be Mr Wozniacky either. She is quite sporty, but more kind of gymnastic way with very good endurance - I lack some exsplosive sprints at her, she struggle to get to ball early enough. Technically she misses sweetspot a lot, hitting with frame, would like to help a bit with racket/string. No shortcut, I know she have to practice a lot too. I think she should play softer balls too but her trainer has his own opinion about it.t I maybe put her some video from her play - or different section rather?

 

[doctor dennis]

A brief history of rackets my daughter has used.

5-6: 19" red balls
6-6.5: 21"red balls
6.5-7: 23" red balls
7-8.5: 25" orange balls
8.5- 10: 26" orange and last 4 months green balls

Her coach wants her to start demoing 27" rackets so I'll be starting a thread on that soon.

If your daughter is getting wrist pain id look at the type of ball she is hitting with the type of racket.

Since my daughter started using 25" rackets we have only got her graphite based rackets.

25" should be fine for her if she is using orange balls. If she uses green or yellow id loom at get getting a good 26/27" frame.

Cheers