Lines?
What lines?
If you’ve played tennis here since the beginning of August you have probably seen faint blue lines on the courts (if you haven’t seen them, be sure to look now!).
If you look hard enough the lines themselves look a little like marks left by sticky tape, but they are much more important than that.
These lines are marking out the short courts for junior tennis as part of the new USTA initiative to help the Junior Development program. The Junior Development program has been successfully running at our club for the past 6 years using QST methodology, also used throughout the other Midtown clubs across the country.
Why do we need these extra lines?
Tennis is a game for life, but it can be difficult to learn for kids 10 and under, especially when they are starting out on a full-sized court with regular tennis balls.
What is the methodology behind the “Quick Start” format, also known as “10 and Under Tennis“?
This summer USTA Junior Team Tennis (JTT) Heart of America used the Quick Start format for their under 10 players. The duels between other local clubs were based on both doubles and singles play with 4 game sets, best of 3 sets with a tie break in the event of the first 2 sets being split.
The exciting news is Midtown’s JTT team recently became the 10 and under Heart of America District Championsplaying this format! Congratulations to: Sam Rydberg-Cox, William Wang, Owen Vander Ark, Hannah Tadros, Payton Carlson, and Lauren Reddin!
JTT is awesome for our kids many of whom are multi-sport athletes. This approach gives them a great introduction to the world of competitive tennis. Tennis is often an individual sport and being able to play it in a team setting provides great social interaction too. By next summer we will have at least 2 teams, as well as an “8 and under” team playing on the red court (36 foot court with a red ball).
The team also demonstrated their skills on the 60 ft court at a KC Explorers match this summer, in front of 1,500 people and under bright lights!
To make the most of this new idea, our tennis pros have been to Chicago for training to ensure we are making best use of the technology. So the next time you walk on court, or are staring at that ball from your opponent to see if it really was out, take a look at the “blended lines” that are now on all courts – they are there to help our juniors develop into great tennis players!
Want to sign up your child for lessons in our top-rated Junior Development Program?
Check out the schedule on our home page.
Is your child taking tennis lessons at the club? What do you think of the program?
