Tennis is a great sport to start at any age, but truly the best time to start tennis is when you’re young. There are so many amazing values tennis teaches kids so we decided to highlight a few:
1. Build self-confidence
One of the first things you learn in tennis practice is to trust yourself and your instincts. Having faith in your own judgement is a vital thing for every child to practice.
2. Accept Responsibility
There’s more to tennis than just signing up for lessons. It requires a commitment to practice, to show up for your games, and to be the best player you can be. In doing so, your child learns the importance of being accountable.
3. Increase Problem Solving Skills
Sometimes you prepare a strategy for a match and it simply doesn’t go the way you had planned. Dealing with adversity in a match is a great way for your child to improve their problem solving skills. Tennis teaches children to stop, reassess a situation, and apply a new strategy to win.
4. Learn Sportsmanship
This may be an obvious one, but learning sportsmanship is paramount to life and tennis. Your child is going to win and lose playing tennis, that’s just a fact. But either way, tennis teaches your child to treat your opponent with respect and the game with honor.
5. Improve Mental Strength
Since tennis is a sport based on angles, geometry and physics, your child will have to develop a mental game to be able to compete, which will only improve mental strength off the court.
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6. Learn Dedication
To become good at tennis, your child will have to practice. And by practicing everyday, your child will develop their ability to fully dedicate themselves. Such dedication will serve any child well in school and other extracurricular activities.
7. Improve Social Skills
Tennis is a sport that demands good social skills. To play tennis, your child will have to play well with others or they will find themselves constantly looking for someone to practice with and play. As we mentioned, tennis helps develop good sportsmanship qualities in your child, which will also help your child improve their social skills.
8. Learn Strategy
When playing tennis, everyone needs a winning strategy. This lesson easily carries over to life and is especially true for children. Your child may not know his or her opponent’s strengths, but your child knows his or her own best tennis shot and can play to win relying on that strength.
9. Practice Honesty
In many junior matches, there is no umpire, which means the same children playing the match are the ones making the calls on their opponent’s ball being out or in. In doing so, children learn the importance of being honest in tennis and life.
10. Learn a Complex Scoring System
Tennis is not an easy game to score. Compared to sports like basketball or baseball, it’s down right complicated. By playing tennis children can learn math as they learn the ins and outs of one of sports most complex scoring systems.
As you can see, tennis is a great way for your kids to learn life values. Interested in getting your kids started with tennis? Click here to find an instructor near you.
Excellent thoughts