USA Tennis Parents Guide

USA Tennis Parents Guide

USA Tennis Parents Guide Making Competitive Tennis Rewarding for You and Your Child UNITED STATES TENNISASSOCIATION White Plains, NY Flushing, NY Key Biscayne, FL

Photographs by Caryn Levy Book production by H.O. Zimman, Inc. 70 West Red Oak Lane White Plains, NY 10604-3602 www.usta.com 2001 by the United States Tennis Association. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the United States Tennis Association. Printed in the United States of America

Contents Foreword Chris Evert Preface Bill Aronson, Ph.D. vii ix 1. Introduction 1 Tom Gullikson 2. Keeping Your Child s Tennis in Perspective 6 Paul Lubbers, Ph.D. 3. Helping Parents Make Good Decisions 10 James E. Loehr, Ed.D., and Stan Smith 4. Child Development: Its Impact on the Young Tennis Player 16 Ronald B. Woods, Ph.D 5. The Role of Tennis Coaches 23 Nick Saviano 6. Competing in Tournaments 28 Doug MacCurdy and Lynne Rolley 7. Preparing for Collegiate Tennis 32 Dede Allen 8. The Sport for a Lifetime: Health Benefits of Tennis 38 Jack L. Groppel, Ph.D. 9. Injury Prevention 44 E. Paul Roetert, Ph.D., and Todd S. Ellenbecker, M.S., P.T. 10. About USA Tennis Player Development 51 Appendix A: The USTA Anti-Doping Program 58 Appendix B: Resource Guide 62 Contributors 69

Foreword by Chris Evert When I was growing up and playing junior tennis in the mid- to late 60s, my mother would drive me and my brother and sisters and maybe five other kids from our tennis park to a tournament. Afterwards, we d all go to the mall or have pizza together. For me, that was life in the juniors. Okay, it was more than that. There was the competition and the coaching and the training and all the rest. But, certainly, it was nothing like it is today, with everyone thinking about getting that first endorsement and the really big bucks. Believe it or not, when I started playing majors like the US Open at age 16, I couldn t have told you what the purse was for winning. It never entered my mind. Today s emphasis on money has introduced some very negative elements into the game of tennis, not the least of which is the often outrageous behavior of parents at junior tournaments. Parents yell at their children when they make a mistake, put down their child s opponent, shout instructions, and lose their temper. Not only does this kind of behavior rattle a player and almost guarantee that he or she will not be able to play well, but it also sends the wrong message about sportsmanship. How can parents expect their children to be good competitors and treat their opponents with respect, when they do the opposite? I learned all my tennis from my father, and the only time he raised his voice to me or his other children was when we were fooling around in practice and not taking the game seriously. Other than that, he kept vii

viii things in perspective. He understood one very important thing: if kids try their hardest and still lose, when they walk off the court, what they need more than anything is a parent, not a coach, somebody to wrap their arms around them and say, I m proud of you. There s plenty of time to go over the match in the next day or two. Parents need to make life as normal as possible for their tennisplaying children. They have to set the tone and keep things simple; tell their kids to work hard, execute, and take one point at a time. They need to make sure that their children eat properly, get sufficient sleep, and have enough off time to relax with friends and have fun. Once they ve done that, they need to step back and let their children play. If the child has the talent and the desire, results will come. Above all, parents need to be parents!

Preface by Bill Aronson, Ph.D. About a year ago, after often hearing parents say how much they needed help in knowing how best to work with their young tennisplaying children, the Sport Science Department of the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) decided to take on the challenge. With the full support of USA Tennis Player Development, of which Sport Science is a part, the idea for the guide that you re about to read was conceived. Our goal was to develop a comprehensive guide for parents of young tennis players, one that would help them work successfully with a child or teenager who wanted to play just for the enjoyment of the sport or who wanted and had the talent to compete at the professional level. The guide needed to cover selecting a coach, tournament scheduling, competing at tournaments, staying fit, and avoiding injuries. But most of all, we wanted the guide to reinforce how important it is for parents to keep a healthy perspective regarding their child s tennis playing and to always be there for him or her win or lose. We think we succeeded in this goal and hope you agree. I would like to thank all the members of the USA Tennis Player Development staff for contributing their time and expertise for this guide, including Dede Allen, Bobby Bernstein, Lew Brewer, Jai DiLouie, Tom Gullikson, Rodney Harmon, Erick Iskersky, Kelly Jones, Paul Lubbers, Doug MacCurdy, Lynne Rolley, Nick Saviano, Stan Smith, Michael Summers, and Eliot Teltscher. A special thanks to Sport Science Department staffers Marcie Londono and Barrett Bugg; ix

x to USTA Board member Tim Wilkison; and to Todd S. Ellenbecker, Jack L. Groppel, James E. Loehr, E. Paul Roetert, and Ronald B. Woods. The Sport Science Department is extremely grateful to the authors who contributed to this guide. They come from diverse disciplines but all have enormous experience working with young tennis players. We are fortunate to have the benefit of their knowledge. A special thank you to Chris Evert for writing the Foreword, in which she shares her insights on this important topic from a very personal perspective. The Foreword appeared in a somewhat different version in Tennis magazine. Many current and former players and coaches contributed valuable information for parents, and for this we thank them. We are indebted to Rick Rennert and Edna Gabler of the USTA Publishing Department for their editorial proficiency in shaping wideranging topics written in dissimilar styles into a cohesive and easily readable whole. We thank Michael Adamson of the USTA Advertising and Promotion Department for the book s design. And we must not forget all the devoted tennis parents around the country who help instill a love of tennis in their children whether they play tennis as an avocation or to become future champions. This guide is especially for them.