When Should Junior Tennis Players Move Up a Level?

In this episode is all about the sometimes difficult decision on when it’s time to move a player up to a higher team, squad or tournament. Often there is a need for a player to be challenged more however develop winning habits and being able to consistently beat those just below you, is also essential. 

Are you a tennis coach business owner and Interested in learning more - sign up to a free 14 day newsletter here - https://theartoftennis.kit.com/a7c87026f3

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The art of tennis. The art of tennis. Coaches, this is Rick from The Art of Tennis. Welcome to episode 12. Today is going to be about when it's time to move kids up a group or up a team to challenge them in higher levels of tennis. This as coaches is something we we have to deal with all the time because we're going to have kids and parents wonder when their child is progressing to go through to whether it's another colour ball for the younger kids, whether it's a whether it's a higher level squad, whether it's a higher team, whether it's a certain tournament. And we've got to have a good understanding of whether this is always the right thing to do. From my position in hot shots tennis, which is the modified tennis we do here in Australia. I'm sure in other countries there's there are similar programs, but you're obviously progressing through the red and orange. We kind of use age for that. So red really once they're once they've hit seven years old, we get them out of red. There will, of course, be exceptions to this. Now some kids um super coordinated, maybe they're a little bit bigger as well, bit taller, and they will progress quicker to orange. But generally, look, Red Bull is about, you know, red ball is participation, fun, engagement. It's okay to let them experience a bit of that fun and in Red Ball, even if they're the best player, there's no real harm done by keeping them in red for a little bit longer. But if they are a super coordinated player, you might progress to orange quicker. Now, once you get to orange, this is where we have a little bit more of a closer look at things. So uh once you get to orange, which is you know your three-quarter court, you know, the kids are starting to show uh their their skill set a bit more here. Uh their technique needs to be a little bit better to succeed at this level. It can't just be coordination and tapping it back in at Red Bull. Uh, you're going to have to show a little bit more of a of a skill set to progress from orange. Um, but what we do is we sort of use a, I guess, a combination of three factors, maybe four factors, but age is still one. So from going from orange to green, uh, age comes into play. So, you know, for us, it's very rare to get a seven-year-old go to green ball. We've had a couple, but not many. Um, they are normally exceptional players who've trained a lot, done private lessons from from perhaps five years old, and and they progress through. Um, but they really are the exception, not the rule. Now, at eight years old to green, again, it can happen, uh, but I wouldn't say it's common. All right. I would say that nine, ten, that would be more a common age is to go from orange to green. So you're going to the full court and they have to cover more of the court, okay, because it's a little bit wider, it's longer, there's more movement. So we'll say nine, nine or nine or ten is is about right age-wise to move to green ball. Now, some other factors as well as age is you know your your technical ability. So if if they're if they're really still struggling to to get some basic techniques, going to green ball early is going to it's going to backfire on them a little bit because they're going to go back and they're going to use even worse technique uh from from further back in the corp. So this is where you know techniques like opening the racket face too much on every shot and just pushing it up to make sure it goes over. We try with our squad kids, we try to get them to create at least the fundamentals of a decent technique in orange ball. Um, again, not hot shots, hot shots orange ball is a little bit more participation based. But if they get to orange ball squad, uh whether with you know peers who are a similar level, then um you know we're we're really looking at their technique and trying to get their technique right before moving up. Because they're just fine if you push them to green ball early, um, yeah, the open racket face is a big one, uh, higher bouncing ball, you can also get you know funny little push habits and and just things that will just not help them in the long run. Um, look, the final main factor of of moving up here is also height. You know, if you've got a real little kid unless they're extremely good technically, and you know, they move behind the ball to get it, they can get in trouble because the ball bounces go up from you know, red, orange, green. You've got a higher bounce, and so if they're little, they they they're gonna be stuck doing this stuff where they're gonna be better to have the lower bounce and play through. So um there are some of the factors on how we progress through the the ball colors through the orange to green. Um, similar thing from green to yellow, uh, green to yellow. We we want to see that they know how to construct a point because the green ball being a low compression balls. I'm a big fan of green balls, orange balls I'm sort of so so, but green balls I'm a big fan because it's you know it's full court, but it's a little bit slower, and so then you're develop developing more tactical patterns or just ideas on moving the person around, and you know, you can start to start to play some different types of patterns of play here from from greenball. Um, so once we feel like they've mastering, not mastering, but getting a good understanding of that, then going to yellow ball can be great because the serves are gonna come off harder, um, you know, their their top spins are gonna have more bounce, more acceleration. Um, obviously they're gonna receive faster balls as well, so that that comes back to that technical ability of being able to receive those those quicker balls and get organized. So as they um as they progress to to that yellow ball from from green ball ages, um, okay, so what would be our youngest? Our youngest would be eight. So if we say our youngest is seven to orange ball, they spend one year in orange ball to go to eight, that would be exceptional, and this is really a state-level player for their age. Okay, so if that eight going to yellow ball, they are technically going great, uh, have a great understanding of how to play points, use their feet well, and you know, I guess they've also got a a mindset or a a uh they've they've got the right, they're going to be able to adjust quicker than some other kids. All right, so they're gonna be able to adjust, all right. This is difficult, but then they they've got a faster way of adjusting. So for us, eight, nine, still really young to go to yellow ball. All right, a very good player if you're nine doing yellow ball, ten, okay. Ten, we'll start to get a few yellow ballers, right? Sound, good, strong club players at 10. Uh, and then we're really more looking at 11 and 12 as the ages to go from um 11, 12, 13 actually, to go from green to yellow. Alright, I quite like if a 12-year-old's great, and you can play them in uh division one green bowl, then that's gonna really benefit them because they're gonna get an understanding of the of the of the game, and and like I said, those patterns of play tactically really important. Uh so that that's my guide. So green to yellow, eight, super young, nine, still really young, ten, okay, still on the young side, they're obviously very talented player. Um, 11, 12, 13 is more where we're we're wanting to push them across to yellow. Um, so if we're going to yellow ball, now yellow ball, yellow ball, we have ratings when we get to yellow ball here. So, you know, you get a player rating, UTR, you you start at the you know one 1.5 and then it goes all the way to 16, which is you know uh Alcaraz and Cinner. But if we if we're looking at ratings, then moving up is kind of dependent on how you're going in your matches. So if you're playing competition, your rating goes up if you win, etc. etc. Now there will be some there will be some exceptions where maybe with ratings you get stuck playing, you get stuck playing in a low division or maybe playing lower-rated players, and you just can't quite seem to get ahead. That does happen with with UTR. Uh, you can go and play some tournaments and things to play higher-rated kids, and that will help push the rating up. But look, you've got it, the ratings are so dangerous because people get they they sort of they get a bit obsessed with the ratings when really the ratings will take care of themselves if your game is getting better and you're working on your game and always trying to improve. But people do get obsessed with ratings. The problem is it's it's got a little bit of a lag, the algorithm has a lag, and you might get a win and it doesn't reflect straight away. So you almost got to ignore them to a degree and just check on it every few months. That's how I see it. You know, maybe twice a year. Okay, where where are we at rating-wise? But if you're checking every week, it's gonna just send send the send the players crazy, it's gonna send the parents crazy, um, and even the coaches crazy because it's just it's just too uh too short term to really measure the improvement properly. But over a six-month period, we should see changes in the rating. But here's some here's some downsides to pushing up quicker, all right. So pushing up, playing quicker. Now, that might be, like I said, higher squad, higher team, higher level tournament. Now, as adults, all right, so this will be a lot of the parents' mindset. Um, adults, we we immediately think, well, let's let's play higher so they can get used to that level and they'll start playing like them. All right, which theoretically is not too bad, right? It's almost like, okay, let's throw you in the deep end and see if you can swim. And look, they will learn from getting those harder balls from that higher level. They're gonna learn, oh wow, okay, this is this is much quicker. Um, you know, the pace is quicker, there's more spin, I'm getting moved around more. And so there is an element that it's gonna help. Uh, but I just don't I don't fully agree with it unless the kid is ready and and and almost just bursting out to go higher. Uh the the risk is, I mean, I've had I had a couple of couple of girls many, many years ago who were good players, you know, not not like top, top players, good players. Good enough to start thinking about playing some some some tournaments, some junior tournaments, not just club tournaments, but you know, suburban or state type tournaments. And one of them I got to play doubles, I arranged to play doubles with another girl I I coach who was really good, was more a state-level player, and I sort of leaned on her for a bit of a favor to play with this other girl who hadn't had experience in tournaments. Now that seems like a good idea, but when you're talking about 12-year-old girls and 12-year-old boys, but in this situation, 12-year-old girl who was really nervous about letting down her partner who was better, um, was basically scared to play the tournament, anxiety, um played the played the tournament, ton of double faults, ton of mistakes, just a disaster, and pretty much quit tennis after that. Alright, it was wasn't immediate, but it was the the beginning of the end. And I guess I realized that I was just being like some parents can be, and think, oh, put them in there and they'll get used to it, right? We'll put them put them in that division or let's put them in that tournament so they can they can get used to playing that higher level. Um, so that was my theory there as well, and it really backfired. So the the the risk is is that the kids lose all their confidence, all right? So if they're playing too high too early, they're going to potentially get beaten pretty badly, and they're going to start to believe that they're they're not good enough to compete at that level. Or they start to believe that they're not good enough to play tennis. And this is a this is a real risk, and I think it's a huge difference between adults doing it, who sort of understand that okay, it's alright if I if I lose a little bit, I'll learn and adjust. But if a kid does it, in their mind, in their world, they they really have are just failing, right? That they can fail quick, go up, um, and and play somebody much better than them, and it can really it can really backfire. So that adult mindset of go up and be challenged, great, maybe for the right kid. So when do you know it's the the kid is ready for that? Now, I think the kid is ready when they've consistently beaten players just under their level, okay, or maybe at their level, but definitely just under their level. Because in tennis, playing someone just under your level, let's say 20% below your level, is one of the most dangerous situations you can face because all the pressure is on you as the better player. All right, so you but the other but the other person is not far away that they can't beat you on the right match. And we've seen it time and time again in tennis where a kid, you know, should win, but they're nervous, they're playing that kid 20% below them or 10% below them. Um, they lose all their shots, they lose this, and they start pushing and and just trying to, they're basically playing not to lose, um, choking up a little bit, and and and they lose the match, and you know, they think, well, what's going on here? And so maybe they think, well, maybe I've got to play higher-level players so we don't go back, and you know, a common thing is playing to the level of your opponent, but playing to the level of your opponent is is really rubbish because that's you, and that's the the stress and the pressure coming through instead of playing playing your normal shots, you're basically just super nervous and you're just pushing. So to think that just playing higher is it's a it's a bit of an easy easy out to get those people playing uh away from playing those those kids a little bit below them. So if you can consistently beat kids a little bit below you, all right, with your normal game style without going into nervous land and pushing, then I think you're ready to move up. If if you're struggling with that, then I really don't think you you're ready to move up. You need to you need to prove to yourself that you can play those those matches, play your normal game, and look, you might lose the odd one to that person below you, but you you're consistently coming over the top of people below your level. Um, so look, what sort of win and loss ratio? Now I like 60%. Uh there's a lot of uh some you know thoughts out there 55, 65, 60 win ratio is good. Um why not 50-50? Because you want to lean on the side of confidence building. So um, you know, winning is a habit and losing is a habit. So if you if you're constantly losing, all right, so uh those footy fans, AFL fans from a long, long time ago when I was a kid watching Fitzroy Football Club before they merged, um, they used to get smashed every week by 100 points, and the habit of losing just becomes ingrained as part of the culture and part of you know, I guess each individual then. And so it can happen in tennis as well. If you've got you're playing up, all right, but you're or you're getting some good rallies against this better player, but you're losing 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1. Then you're just going to believe that you can't win. You're just gonna believe that you you've lost. Now, this also brings into play uh the the phrase you've got nothing to lose. Now, not a not a big fan of this term, nothing to lose is is is is incorrect. All right, you have the match to lose, so you actually have everything to lose. It might be a challenging match, but to say you have nothing to lose, of course you have something to lose, you you're competing. Um, so you shouldn't really have the mindset of got nothing to lose. I know that sort of gives the the feeling that you can then play free and all of this, but you know, that's fine, but you should be able to play free without the you've got nothing to lose. It's it's almost the opposite of playing that person 20% below you where you've got everything to lose. You play someone, you know, 20 to 50% better than you. Oh, I've got nothing to lose. Oh, play some, and always people say, Oh, we had some great rallies and you know, we got to juice a lot of times. Um, but they don't win, right? They rarely will win these matches, they're just holding on to some good rallies, but it it's not it's not gonna help build their confidence and build their the habit of winning. So you want the habit of winning really entrenched in in that player's mindset. Um, to get certainly some losses, and you know, 40%, 50% losses, sure, that's okay, that's gonna be development mentally fine. Um, but it's uh you know, if you're if you're aiming on 60% win rate, that's that's gonna be quite nice. Now, once you've built that confidence up and you're progressing through, and you've got that 60% win rate, maybe 50%, then you're in a position to play confidently. You you have self-belief that you can win because you've won, you've proven it over and over and over again that you can you can win. So when you do go and play those a little bit above, you still you shouldn't have the I've got nothing to lose. You should have the I'm capable and I'm able to still uh win this match today. So I think it's really interesting when we when we look at this stuff, and and look, parents are notoriously uh bad at this because they just they they want their kids to play like someone else, and so they think pushing them, putting them against that person is going to help. Um, but it's not quite that simple. All right, if you're really close in level, maybe you're five percent you know away from somebody, that that's okay. Um, but until you're beating those players, like I've said a couple of times already, until you're beating those players you should beat consistently whilst playing a game style that you you're you're wanting to play, um then you really shouldn't be pushing up too quickly. Now, look on the flip side to finish this, if you consistently win every match and you're winning 100%, 90% of your matches, then this will have a reverse effect, right? This is this is going to go down the path of sort of arrogance and cockiness and too much confidence and needing to be humbled by someone else. Now, at that point, they may struggle to handle the adversity of losing from someone else, right? That's where you might get they might get temperamental because they're not used to losing. So that side's a little bit different. Um, so if someone has a season with us, our club season and they win every match, then you know, we're definitely looking to push them up so they're getting closer to that 60% win, all right, or 50% sort of at the lows. Um, but that's um that's kind of you know that that's the other end of the extreme, is is winning all the time, winning all the time. Of course, you need to be pushed up then, but losing all the time, losing all the time, um you need to you need to be really careful that you don't just push up higher in the hope that by osmosis you're gonna start playing like those people. All right, it's not quite that simple, but um interesting topic. Um and look, it's a nuanced topic. It's not it's not clean cut. Sometimes it depends on the personality of the kid, whether that's someone who just adjusts really quickly, um, or maybe they're they like to, you know, maybe they're a bit more perfectionistic and they they're gonna they're gonna struggle to to push too high too early. Um it honestly depends, and that's you know, that's that's why this that's why my my sort of uh this this consultancy type business is is called the art of tennis, is that it's not always black and white, it's a bit nuanced, and you've got to really just know that each individual kid will be a bit different in this. Um, but you as the coach need to to guide them with the right decision as as much as you can. That's it from me. Um Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next week. Cheers. The art of credit. The art of credit, art of credit.