Do you want your child to develop great self-esteem, discipline, social skills, and fitness? Learning tennis is a great way to develop these skills plus more.
Tennis Journey
Your children's Journey
Making A Positive Impact
On Little Lives Through Tennis
We’ve been training children of all ages and levels from beginners through to seasoned players. It’s amazing to see their tennis journey build lesson-on-lesson.
When on court, our coaches are constantly making use of their expertise, experience and understanding of the game to assign individualised goals to players, so they can have a clear understanding of what they are working on at a particular moment in time, and can compare this with the developmental milestones integrated in the ‘Highlands Tennis’ journey.
FUNdamentals
Preschooler Tennis
A quality coaching program provides a developmental pathway for players.
The key at this age is to encourage fun engagement, with the goal of getting children to want to come back for more.
Sessions are run in a fun, enthusiastic environment for kids aged 3 to 5 and combine tennis and other skill-based activities to promote locomotion and balance, catch, track and intercept, throw, kick and strike, and cognitive development.
Designed for 3 to 5 years old. Court size: 3m/8.23m (small Portable) – ANZ Hotshots Stage: Blue Ball Stage: Red.
Stages: 15 – 30 – 40 – Advantage
FUNdamentals
Kinder Tennis
Players enjoy fun activities – Learning that being a good sports player is interacting well with peers.
This stage of the program has been created so that children can explore and improve their motor skills, gain an understanding of the game in a fun and positive atmosphere whilst developing a love for the sport. At the same time, there is an emphasis on what we call ‘tennis for life’ foundations (court, ball and opponent awareness) and fundamentals (balance, contact area and the use of the non-dominant hand), which are all understructure for building a solid gameplay and sound technique.
Designed for 6 to 10 years old. Court size: 6m/10.97m (small Portable) – ANZ Hotshots Stage: Red
Ball Stage: Red
Stages: Advantage – Game – Set – Match
Junior Development
Mini Tennis
Players are encouraged to serve, rally, and score while refining their tennis skills in a meaningful situation that relates to the game of tennis.
The program follows on from the previous stage with red ball lessons leading to orange balls Hot Shots lessons. These stages guide the child through their tennis pathway with key milestones along the way.
The tennis lessons are structured to teach the required components of the learning areas within their group lessons. As the child transitions through the levels, they go from a cooperate-to-play theme to real tennis.
Designed for 9+ years old. Court size: 6.4m/18m (Drop Down Lines) – ANZ Hotshots Stage: Orange – Ball Stage: Orange
Stages: Local – Regional – State
Junior Development
Full Court
The game- sense learning pathway means that the tennis coach sets up realistic tennis game situations, in either singles or doubles, so that the intermediate players can learn by playing the game. It also allows the tennis coach to give relevant information so that the player can put into practice immediately.
These lessons are on a full-size tennis court and use either green ball or yellow ball depending on the skill level of the player. A key theme in these lessons is “play”. Students continue to develop their technical skills which closely align with a tactical outcome.
Designed for 10+ years old. Court size: 8.23m/23.77m (Full Court) – ANZ Hotshots Stage: Green – Ball Stage: Green
Stages: Local – Regional – State
Junior Performance
Tennis Academy
When our players arrive at this stage, they have been sharpening their strokes, their agility, flexibility, balance and coordination. Now, they learn how to position themselves properly in the court (full size) and play points with a purpose, building and closing the points.
During this stage, players will learn how to set up goals for daily training and matches, manage emotions through mindfulness and analyze matches to identify what worked well and what were mistakes.
Designed for 11+ years old. Court size: 8.23m/23.77m (Full Court) – ANZ Hotshots Stage: Yellow – Ball Stage: Yellow
Stages:
Local – Regional – State – National – International
Our coaching philosophy
Where teaching excellence meets an exciting,
nurturing and welcoming community
A very technical approach to teaching is not best suited to beginner to intermediate players, many of whom simply want to play.
A more game- based approach to coaching is therefore suggested as a suitable alternative to the traditional technical approach as a means of teaching beginner to intermediate players.
This comes down to helping players to play from the first lesson by basing the activities around the game situations in tennis. Activities that will promote these outcomes may require modification.
These modifications commonly involve adapting equipment (e.g., smaller racquets, low compression balls), court size (e.g., scaled courts) and tennis skills (e.g., substituting on overarm serve for a drop and hit serve) to promote greater success.
One on one lessons
Private lessons
Individual private tennis lessons are coached by qualified and experienced team members via sessions that encompass all aspects of the modern game. Lessons are customised to the individual needs of the player to help them attain the outcomes they desire.
Cost | A$80 – $100 per participant/ per hour
Upon consent, video analysis is a key component in private tennis lessons, and there are different length lessons available (30, 60, 90 minutes) depending on the individual.
A holistic approach to coaching tennis
Other benefits of playing tennis
From a psychological standpoint, children who play tennis develop skills and strategies that will also serve them well in life off the court.Because they’re out there on their own, and often calling their own lines while competing, children learn to accept responsibility for their actions, decisions and mistakes, and can begin to manage these more effectively.
They must learn to respond to adversity, adapt to different situations and environments, and deal with stress, often compounded when scores are tight or if they’re losing. Both in practice and competitive environments, tennis fosters work ethic, discipline, and sportsmanship in children, and hones their strategic and problem solving skills.
Tennis also fosters social skills – children learn about the importance of teamwork when playing doubles, and benefit from the necessary communication with singles opponents before, during and after matches.