Developing a tennis player through the red, orange and green ball is certainly easier, but it also can produce better juniors if delivered correctly.
ANZ Tennis Hot Shots is the perfect kids tennis lessons program with a clear development pathway. There are 4 clear stages: Blue (Launch Pad), Red, Orange and Green. Within these 4 stages Red and Orange are divided again as follows:
- Red Ball 1
- Red Ball 2
- Red Ball 3
- Orange Ball 1
- Orange Ball 2
- Green Ball
Every stage listed above has competencies that should be achieved before moving onto the next stage. Achieving these competencies will assist your child in becoming a better junior tennis player. Your child will also enjoy the game of tennis through maximum participation and a “learning through play” philosophy that ANZ Tennis Hot Shots provides and High Performance Tennis stands by.
All coaches should be spending time building on fundamental tactics in all five game situations (serve, return of serve, baseline play, approach the net, passing) and developing all the strokes on a court size that is appropriate to their age.
ANZ Tennis Hot Shots have age guidelines at each of the 4 stages, but competencies should also be considered. The dilemma with age categories is that based on the age guidelines you must play orange ball competition if you are aged 8-9 for instance. In reality the concept of Red, Orange and Green is not that it’s solely an age based system, but considerably a competency based system.
I believe both parents and coaches should proceed with a little more attentiveness when considering moving their child or participant on to the next stage. Tennis is a sport they can play forever, so we as parents and coaches must consider the development, and rate of development, of each individual child whatever their goals, aspirations or motivation is for playing tennis.
Tennis is not a race to the yellow ball!
Do you want your child to be chasing tennis balls that are out of their reach, or to play with some relevant tactical scenarios?
Start your tennis journey today by contacting High Performance Tennis
