Stages of Player Development: Mini Red, Orange, Green and Full Tennis

In order to give everyone an idea of what they are aiming at, the following information explains what we are looking for at each level and what will be worked on to get there.

Please remember that we are aiming for long-term development, sometimes it will be more beneficial to the child’s development to stay in a particular level longer rather than go up a level too early.

Being the best in a group may not automatically qualify the child to move up. Plus, it's great for a child’s confidence to be the best in a group.

In order for the player to move from red to orange, the player shall:

• Demonstrate an acceptable level of concentration and willingness to learn
• Be able to play competently from the back of the red court, with simple shapes on serve, forehand & backhand
• Have an understanding of the volley and smashing actions
• Be starting to work on simple movement patterns
• Have a basic understanding of court geometry, where the spaces are and where to recover to between shots

In order for a player to move from orange to green, the player shall:

• Continue to demonstrate an acceptable level of concentration and a willingness to learn
• Be able to play competently from the back of an orange court with developing shapes on serve, forehand, backhand, volleys and smashes
• Have a basic understanding of how to produce spin on groundstrokes
• Have an understanding of all baseline movement patterns
• Be starting to understand basic tactics
• Be aware that players have strengths and weaknesses

In order for a player to move from green to tennis, the player shall:

• Show the ability to concentrate for longer periods with a willingness to learn
• Start to be able to figure things out for themselves
• Be able to play competently with a green ball with constantly developing technique to produce power, accuracy and spin
• Understand all movement patterns and be able to practice these at speed
• Be aware of own strengths and weaknesses
• Starting to develop tactics that suit the way they play
• Be able to recognise opponents strengths and weaknesses

Basic Skills for Tennis

Many children taking up tennis will need work on some basic skills to enable them to pick up the tennis specific skills. This work is beneficial for all children regardless of their tennis skill level.

This work is beneficial at all ages but is most effective up to an age of approximately 12 (a player’s biological age could vary by as much as +/- 2 years from their chronological age). 

To achieve these basic skills, the following areas of work will be addressed:

• Athleticism: Speed, Agility, Flexibility
• Balance: Both static and dynamic balance
• The ability to stop, start and change the direction of movement
• Co-ordination: The ability to co-ordinate the body and body parts to carry out specific skills, with and without racket and ball. 

We are setting high standards in order to move the club up a level, we are committed to helping all children reach their potential. We are aware that children develop at different rates and, of course, this is also applicable in sport, it is always with this in mind that we make our recommendations.