It’s Never Too Late

A few months ago, we printed the article “Never Too Young For Tennis,” which discussed starting young children in tennis as early as 3 years old. But the opposite is also true. With tennis, it’s never too late to learn how to play—especially these days, with so many adult league programs and senior events. All of this falls under the current USTA mantra, “It’s the Healthiest Sport on Earth.” Hence, the decision to take up tennis as an adult is an attractive option for enjoying a longer, healthier aging experience.

Before we delve into some of the best approaches coaches can take when starting an adult in tennis, let's look at one of the best examples of a player who took up the game later in life and became very successful: Robert (Bob) Sherman.

Bob did not pick up tennis until he was 30. It took a junior to belittle his skills after watching him play to motivate him to become an accomplished player. To say he took these comments seriously would be an understatement; he not only took up the game very aggressively, but over the next 60 years plus, he won over 125 national titles in various age groups, 93 of them in singles.

It appears the key motivation for him was a combination of the challenge of competition and falling in love with improving his game every day. Those traits tend to manifest both sustained interest and energy. But those traits are not just owned by those who compete at the highest levels; they can also become very common characteristics at all levels.

This is evident in adult league play. The passion and motivation, combined with a team format, have many adult players enjoying the sport like never before. Yes, it can get a little too competitive at times, such is the nature of team competition. Still, having a format that first competes against your neighboring teams and then having an opportunity to go all the way to a national title level is very compelling and can create lifetime memories.  

Senior tournaments are also still very active, and like league play, they provide a pathway from local play to the national level.  

These two competitive venues may be why, statistically, the greatest growth in tennis in recent years has been in the 35+ age group. There is also a fair number of adult players who have taken up the game to enjoy recreation time with their families. Tennis is one of the few sports where the entire family can participate and enjoy together.

So that explains the incentive behind taking up the sport, and now it all depends on a coach who will need to come up with a plan to help any new adult student both learn the game and sustain an interest in playing.

With today’s tennis world, this may be a coach's greatest challenge. Those very enjoyable competitive venues, adult leagues, and tournaments have been a great addition, but they’ve unintentionally made it more complicated for a new adult player trying to find an easy gateway into social recreational tennis. The days of just coming down to the courts and playing tennis have pretty much vanished and have been replaced by income-producing competitive events. That is the reality: organizing events will make money, so not much incentive for organizers to put in place drop-in or social tennis. What does this all mean? Coaches need to become both an instructor and a match-maker. Because without the ladder, the instruction provided will likely go unappreciated and eventually dismissed.

To address this issue, first, find out about a new student’s schedule and how much time they will have to both learn and play the game. Most everyone will have different lifestyles and times that they can commit to a new activity. When a coach knows the time limits of their student, they can develop a realistic approach to learning, practicing, and playing.

This leads to a follow-up of the most important issue they will face: where, and with whom, will they be able to practice or play. On this front, there is good news. There are tennis enthusiasts who are addressing this problem by developing new interactive social media programs especially for racket sports, …in essence, social media is doing what years ago was done by a local tennis enthusiast who enjoyed putting together social tennis events. Pickleball and Padel have already taken this task on with great success; it's time for the tennis world to do the same.  

As to the instruction, a coach needs to know the expectations they have and how their skill level will best achieve those goals. Remember, many of these people have come to the sport motivated by watching phenomenal players in the media. They see that style of play as their future, which might be the case for some, but more often, they will need to be patient and take the time to master the footwork and strokes best suited for their individual athletic and skill.

Tennis, like all racket sports, thrives on a ball being exchanged with an opponent, so logic tells you that the first step of becoming a decent player is learning how to keep the ball in play and become consistent. So how can a coach help that happen? Start by emphasizing the simple goal of keeping the ball in play by reducing unforced errors. Maybe the use of a backboard, a garage door, or even a ball machine can help with this challenge. During the lesson, add rally quotas to achieve consistency, such as being able to hit five balls in a row, then ten, and so on. They will soon learn that being consistent is more of a mindset than a physical skill. In almost all cases, once they reach a level of consistency, they will find their way to playing games, and then competing will be just around the corner. 

It’s a challenging task these days for coaches to launch a new adult player into the game. Coaches just want to get their students on the dance floor, but these days, finding a dance partner and a dance floor can be difficult. Sadly, the number of open public courts has diminished substantially in many parts of this country, and, as mentioned, finding quality social fun tennis can be very difficult in certain locations. This is a big concern, and if you think everyone who takes up tennis can just join one of their local clubs, that thinking is exclusive in many cases and will surely not “Grow the Game.”

At the end of the day, a coach has to stay positive and keep looking for every possible way to get the new adult students on the court playing with others. That might mean a tech solution that helps find others to play with, but more likely, interaction with fellow coaches in their community.

Hopefully, most of the large tennis organizations will come to realize that in their effort to be the most relevant or constantly squabbling over who should be in charge, the very goals they hope to seek are being compromised. As they wrestle with who should be in charge, not just in the tennis world, but within their own organizations, their actual purpose and goals, “Like Grow the Game,” are being compromised.

So, the reality these days is that all of this falls on the shoulders of the teaching pros. They need to be both a coach and a facilitator of helping their new students find court time and others to play with. Keep a positive attitude and show the new players that there is a pathway to improving their tennis and enjoying our great sport. No greater coaching tool motivates a student better than passion and love for what we do; that part of coaching will always remain the most important asset when taking the court to teach a lesson, either to a young 3-year-old or maybe a 55-year-old newcomer.