Tennis Kids

The Tennis Kids programme is where many children begin their tennis journey. At this age, I want children to become comfortable on court, enjoy using a racket and ball, and gradually discover what they are capable of doing. 

The programme is structured in three stages, but children do not simply move through them because they have reached a certain birthday. Some children develop quickly in one area and need more time in another. I look at the whole child: their coordination, confidence, ability to listen and learn, and how comfortable they are playing with other children.

The important thing is that they keep moving forward. What they learn in one stage becomes the starting point for the next.

Play → Explore → Practise → Solve → Compete

• Play: Can I enjoy being on the court? → Getting comfortable with the racket, ball, court and other children through games and movement.

• Explore: What can I do? → Trying different ways of moving, hitting, serving, controlling the ball and using the court. Children discover what works through experimentation.

• Practise: Can I do it again? → Repeating important skills so that movement, coordination and basic strokes become more reliable.

• Solve: What can I do here? → Beginning to look at the ball, the opponent and the space available, and making simple choices rather than simply hitting the ball back.

• Compete: Can I use what I have learned? → Playing points and simple matches, learning to keep score, make decisions independently, handle winning and losing, and enjoy the challenge of playing against someone.

1) Foundation | Play & Explore

Ages 4–5

A four-year-old grips the racket for the first time, swings, misses, and laughs anyway. That's usually how it starts, and there's a lot happening in that moment: tracking a moving ball, judging distance, coordinating a swing, even if it looks like simple fun from the sidelines.

I use softer balls, lighter rackets and smaller courts because this is what lets a four-year-old actually succeed early on. A child who spends the whole session chasing the ball learns very little about playing it, and success, even small success, is what makes a child want to come back.

Within that space we build the basic forehand and backhand actions, throwing and catching, balance and coordination, and the rhythm every tennis player eventually relies on: watch, get ready, move, hit, reset. Sessions stay active and playful, built around games, small challenges and a bit of imagination. A child learns far more from trying a stroke and missing it than from any explanation.

Alongside the technical work, every child learns to take turns, look after the equipment, listen when someone else is speaking, say "well played" and treat mistakes as a normal part of playing. Tennis is an individual sport, and a child who learns early to manage themselves on court, win, lose, wait their turn, carries that skill well beyond the game itself.

Parents often ask how much they should be doing outside lessons. Not much is needed, but a little goes a long way. Throwing and catching, tapping the ball up, a simple target game or just having a hit together all reinforce what happens on court, without any of it needing to feel like formal practice.

By the end of this stage, a child should handle a racket and ball with confidence, attempt the basic strokes, move well and take part comfortably in simple games with other children. Above all, they should want to come back.

2) Development | Learn & Build

Ages 5–6

A rally reaches its fourth, fifth, sixth shot, and something changes: the child realises they made that happen. Once the basic coordination and confidence are there, this is often when tennis starts to get genuinely interesting for children.

Forehand and backhand become more consistent, serving and returning are introduced, and children begin using the court with real intent. They start to notice that where they stand affects the shot they can play, and where they send the ball affects what their opponent does next. They can move an opponent, find space, hit higher or deeper, stretch a rally out. For the first time they're choosing between possibilities rather than simply hitting the ball back.

I don't want to overload them with tactics at this age. I'd rather put them into situations where they have to make simple decisions. I might ask: where is the space? Can you make your opponent move? What happens if you hit it back there? The answer matters less than the habit it builds, looking at the court and thinking about what's happening, rather than simply reacting to the ball.

Technical work continues throughout this stage: preparation, contact, balance and recovery. But every piece of it needs a reason attached. A child should understand what a shot is helping them achieve, not just how to execute it.

Points and competitive games become a bigger part of sessions. Children learn to keep score, serve to start a point, and handle winning and losing. At this age, competition is another way of learning: a chance to make decisions without someone standing beside them telling them what to do.

By the end of this stage, children should rally more consistently, serve and return at an appropriate level, and move around the court with greater confidence. They should be beginning to understand that tennis is a game of choices as well as strokes.

3) Advanced Stage | Preparing for Junior Tennis

Ages 6–7

A child loses a point, pauses, and asks themselves what happened before looking to the coach for an answer. That shift in independence is really what the Advanced Stage is about.

This stage is for children ready to take another step towards Junior Tennis. Sessions become more demanding, but I still want them to feel like tennis. Children at this age can handle more technical detail and more complicated situations, provided the information is introduced at the right time and they have the chance to actually use it.

We work on making the fundamental strokes more reliable and on using them from different positions on the court. Children learn to control direction and depth, and begin recognising when they have an opportunity to attack and when they need to play a safer ball. Movement matters more here too. Getting to the ball is only part of the job; recovering and being ready for what comes next is the other part.

This is also where I start expecting more independence. If a child makes a mistake, I don't want the first reaction to be looking at the coach. I want them thinking about what happened: was the ball difficult? Was I in the right position? Did I choose the right shot? Could I have done something differently? They won't always know the answer, and that's fine. Learning to ask the question is already part of becoming a better player.

We continue to play points and short matches, and children take on more responsibility for keeping score, starting points and making their own decisions. They begin to feel the difference between hitting a good shot in a practice exercise and producing it when they're actually trying to win a point, a difference that only grows more important as they move into junior tennis.

By the end of Tennis Kids, a child should have a good foundation for the next stage of their development: comfortable on court, with a developing set of fundamental strokes, an understanding of the basic idea of position and space, and the ability to play points with increasing independence.

Some children will be ready for Junior Tennis earlier than others, and that isn't a problem. The purpose of the programme is to give each child enough time to develop properly. 

Movement

Before a child can become a good tennis player, they need to become a good mover. I build movement through games and tennis-specific activities, always in the context of the game itself:

• balance and coordination

• agility and changes of direction

• running, stopping and starting

• throwing and catching

• movement towards the ball

• recovery and positioning

• basic awareness of space

Racket & Ball Skills

Every stroke starts with the racket and the ball, so this is where the technical foundation is built. Children progressively learn to:

• control the racket

• track the ball

• send and receive

• develop forehand and backhand actions

• rally with appropriate equipment

• serve and start points

• control direction and height

Tennis Understanding

Through games and point-based activities, children start to discover where to stand, where the ball is going, where their opponent is, where there is space, and why one direction might be a better choice than another. I introduce these as simple decisions within play.

Children learn how to try something difficult, respond to mistakes, wait and take turns, encourage others, respect opponents, win and lose appropriately, and take responsibility for their equipment and behaviour.

The Outcome

By the end of Tennis Kids, a developing player should be getting the hang of:

• moving around the court

• controlling the racket and ball

• producing basic tennis strokes

• rallying

• serving

• playing simple points

• understanding basic court positions

• making simple choices

• responding positively to mistakes

• working independently and with others

This provides the foundation for Junior Tennis.