JUNIOR GROUPS EXPLAINED
Mini Tennis Red Starter
These courses are for players age approximately 5-8 years. They are for players in the first stages of mini tennis, building skills and confidence in the small court and a fun environment. Emphasis is on fundamental sporting skills such as movement, co-ordination and timing. Basic rules will be introduced. Players will begin with our ʻStarter Syllabusʼ before progressing to Red Grade 1 Level 1 of the M.T.I. Syllabus.
Mini Tennis Red Improver
These courses are for players age approximately 5-8 years. They will be suitable for players who have progressed beyond the Mini Tennis Red Starter course. They should have passed our Mini Tennis Starter Syllabus, and should now be able to achieve some success on the M.T.I. Red Grade 1 syllabus and above.
Mini Tennis Orange
These courses are for players age approximately 8-9 years, and players will now be playing in a larger court area and using orange balls, which are slightly harder than the red balls. We will also put players in orange groups who are younger than our guideline ages, if we feel they are able to move beyond the red court area.
Transition Green/Yellow
These courses are for players age approximately 10-12 years. They will now be starting to play in the full tennis court and and using green transition balls, or the yellow ball. This group may be split so some players are working with green ball and others are working with the yellow ball. Although the guideline age for players to progress to green ball is 10, we may include players who are younger than this if we feel they are ready. The same applies for progressing players from green to yellow, which is usually when players become 11.
Junior Improver
These courses are for players age approximately 11-13 years. They should now be able to serve and rally competently in the full court. Junior improvers should be capable of playing a match, as will by now have a good understanding of the rules. They will be competent enough to use basic tactics like moving their opponent around,
and have a good idea of recovering their court position.
Junior Intermediate
These courses are for players age approximately 12-16 years. Players in this group should now have more options available in terms of power and variations of spin. They should have a range of attacking and defensive options available to them.
Girlsʼ Group
Initially we are aiming at any standard of play in an age group approximately 11-16 years. As you can tell by the name this group is for girls only. Itʼs often hard to keep girls playing and many drop out during secondary school years. Weʼre hoping an all girls group will prove popular, and sustain more interest. If it proves popular we can add
another group in order to keep similar abilities together.
Improvers/Intermediate
This course is aimed at players age approximately 11-16 years. As it is often difficult to find enough players to run the same courses during the week as on Saturday this is a combination of Improvers and Intermediate level groups (see above information).
Please Note:
The L.T.A. have official ages when players have to compete at red, orange, green and then yellow level. When we put players into groups ahead of their official competition age this means although they are training at a stage ahead they will still have to compete within their official competition age groups. For example, a player under the
age of 9 may be training in an orange group but would still have to compete in red. They can only compete in orange when they have the top rating for a red player. If this totally confuses you donʼt worry. Within our Competitions page we will be including an easy-to-follow guide for parents and players. It will go through everything you need to know about playing in junior competitions! We will let you know when it is ready.
ADULT GROUPS EXPLAINED
Overview of Groups
We use simple M.T.I. methodology and progressions to enable players to achieve success more quickly than with other more traditional coaching methods. We concentrate particularly on tracking the ball and timing, so crucial and yet so often ignored.
Beginners
Players will be taught the basic strokes and rules of the game, including how to score. They will also learn positioning for receiving the ball in both singles and doubles, and start to use simple tactics.
Improvers
Players will now be able develop their basic strokes with more variety of spin, and we will work on increasing consistency from the back of the court. We will also be working on players being able to move in and attack from short balls.
Intermediate (Ladies)
Players on this course will be taught further attacking options and ‘vertical power’ to be able to put opponents under more pressure. They will also be increasing their defensive options when their opponents are on the offensive. More advanced tactical singles and doubles play will be introduced.
Intermediate (Men)
This course will cover similar material to the Intermediate (Ladies) course, but with slightly more emphasis on power and net play.