{"id":4618,"date":"2017-07-23T15:53:32","date_gmt":"2017-07-23T20:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com\/blog\/?p=4618"},"modified":"2022-01-28T22:04:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T06:04:08","slug":"tennis-camps-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahblog.activityhero.com\/tennis-camps-college\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Tennis Court to Harvard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Competitive tennis: One family’s journey from summer tennis camps, clinics, and private instruction to competing for an Ivy League school.<\/h2>\n

By Laura Quaglio<\/h3>\n

\"Tennis
\nWhen Lane L. was age 4, he \u2013 like plenty of other kids his age \u2013\u00a0attended his first tennis clinic with a few buddies from his preschool. Today, as a high-school senior, Lane is ranked nationally in the top 40 players in his age group by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), and he recently was ranked in the top 250 junior players in the world by the International Tennis Federation. In fall of 2016, he will be taking those skills to Harvard, where he was recruited to play on their highly competitive Division 1 tennis team.<\/p>\n

What does it take to rise from \u201csummer tennis camp kid\u201d to \u201cnationally and internationally ranked player\u201d? Could your child have what it takes? And is your family willing and able to invest the time and money needed to reach this level of play? To parents who haven\u2019t participated in the elite level of a sport, these questions can be nearly impossible to answer without additional information. That\u2019s why ActivityHero recently talked to Lane\u2019s mom, Darcy, to find out more about what goes on \u201coff the court\u201d in competitive tennis from preschool through high school. Darcy shares her insights \u2013 and Lane\u2019s winning training program \u2013 here.<\/p>\n

Having a Ball with Buddies<\/h2>\n

Considering his family history, it\u2019s no surprise that Lane was holding a racket before he entered kindergarten. Lane\u2019s grandfather was an internationally ranked pro tennis player, as was Lane\u2019s dad, Mark, who also played tennis for Harvard. So it was natural for the family to enroll Lane in a tennis clinic early on. Though there is increasing pressure to push kids to be coached privately earlier and earlier, Darcy and Mark agree that private lessons before age 6 aren\u2019t a good way to spark a child\u2019s interest in a sport. \u201cClinics instill that sense of joy and excitement,\u201d she says. \u201cTo do a private lesson with a 27-year-old when you\u2019re 5 or 6 years old is not fun. At that age they want to be running around with their buddies.\u201d That is just what a tennis clinic or summer camp session provides.<\/p>\n

See a List of Tennis Camps & Clinics Near You >><\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

For the next few years, the family limited Lane\u2019s tennis training to experiences at summer camps and clinics, as well as court time with his Dad. Though Lane tried a few other sports in his elementary-school years, \u201ctennis was always our anchor,\u201d says Darcy. \u201cI think that many parents who played Division 1 sports in college want their kids to play Division 1 sports, too,\u201d says Darcy. \u201cThey want their kids to have a similar experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DiscoveringGetting Noticed on the Court<\/h2>\n

By the time Lane was in grade school, coaches were commenting on his special affinity for the sport. \u201cAt age 7 or 8, you start seeing kids\u2019 skills emerge more,\u201d she says. \u201cThough they are still young, they start having the perception, \u2018I\u2019m good at this and not at this,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cEven at that age, there\u2019s a difference between kids who are running around on the court and those who have natural skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first week that Lane\u2019s family moved to Menlo Park,Calif., Lane\u2019s parents enrolled him in a local fall recreational tennis clinic. The owner of the rec clinic was happy to work with Lane, but he recognized after the first session that the clinic wasn\u2019t advanced enough for the boy. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Your kid really should be up at Alpine Hills [a well-regarded tennis club] getting instruction,\u2019\u201d says Darcy. The advice came as a pleasant surprise, and they heeded it.<\/p>\n

Until then, Darcy and Mark weren\u2019t sure whether Lane\u2019s abilities were unique or not, since many parents see their kids as amazing or special. \u201cIf you are the only one who thinks your kid can excel at a sport, then maybe or maybe not,\u201d says Darcy today. A better indicator, she adds, is when other people (especially coaches)\u00a0have told you that your child shows promise. \u201cMost people coach the sport because they love the sport. When they see natural skills, they will tell you because they want to see kids excel,\u201d she says. (If you\u2019ve heard a similar message from one of your kid\u2019s coaches, let ActivityHero help you explore the options for additional or more personalized instruction in your local area<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Getting Noticed in School<\/h2>\n

By sixth grade, Lane was becoming known by peers as \u201cthe tennis kid,\u201d says his mom. \u201cAt that age, you want to be that kid,\u201d she says. So Lane made the decision to become an even better player.<\/p>\n

By seventh grade, Lane was attending both tennis clinics and private lessons from a former Stanford player. At this point, the family began talking extensively with other local parents whose older kids were ranked in the section and nationally. \u201cMost parents are so happy to share their knowledge,\u201d says Darcy. Talking to them, she says, is the best way to gain some insights into the sport that you hadn\u2019t considered.<\/p>\n

For instance, she explains, more \u201cindividual\u201d sports like tennis don\u2019t offer much opportunity for carpooling. That\u2019s because kids who attend a tennis tournament will play until they lose, so they might be there for one match \u2026 or for a whole day. Or your kid\u2019s match may start several hours later than their friend\u2019s, so they may be at the same tournament but not at the same time. It\u2019s far easier to organize carpools for soccer players, who attend games and practices together and for the same timespan.<\/p>\n

Also, tennis doesn\u2019t offer the social interaction or growth that a team sport supplies, says Darcy. Even if kids are on their high school tennis team, their teammates are also their competitors. So they don\u2019t develop the same type of bond as do members of football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and other teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be willing to pick up the phone and really do your homework when entering into a new sport, or you won\u2019t be going down the most efficient path,\u201d says Darcy. One caveat: It\u2019s important to remember that what another family or kid experienced may not be what you would see if your child attended a camp or clinic. Meshing well with a coach depends a lot of personality, so one kid can dislike an instructor who might truly motivate your child.<\/p>\n

Ramping Up Practice Time<\/h2>\n

Starting in middle school, Lane practiced tennis two days a week and competed in USTA tournaments on the weekends. By seventh or eighth grade, he was doing \u201cpretty intensive tournament classes\u201d three days a week for two-and-a-half hours at a time. He also spent some time learning about sports nutrition and overall fitness and conditioning. His homework and other activities began to revolve around tennis, and although many of his friends were playing flag football in the fall, Lane opted out of it in favor of focusing on developing his skills on the court. (Today, though, both Lane and Darcy say they wished he\u2019d participated in a team sport as well as tennis, if only at the rec level, because of the social interaction and the benefits of extra conditioning that it would have\u00a0provided.)<\/p>\n

By high school, Lane was practicing five days a week, year-round, since tennis has no \u201coff season.\u201d But, explains Darcy, they knew that the tournaments were the key to Lane\u2019s future success. \u201cIf you want to get recruited for tennis, it\u2019s all about the tournaments,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing on your high school tennis team has zero impact on being recruited to play tennis in college. It\u2019s all about how you rank in the USTA.\u201d
\n\"First_tournament\"<\/p>\n

Courting College Tennis Coaches<\/h2>\n

In many ways, high school is a crossroads, particularly for young athletes, says Darcy. \u201cHigh school is one of those frontiers where you decide whether you want to go to college for your sport or just have a lot of fun and enjoy your high school experience,\u201d says Darcy. Though she thinks most kids choose the latter, Lane opted to further increase his commitment to tennis during his senior year. Having already been recruited by Harvard, his new goal was to compete in International Tennis Federation tournaments and earn the opportunity to play in a junior grand slam.<\/p>\n

To achieve this goal, Lane traveled internationally for six months, enrolling in online high-school courses during the fall of 2015, the first semester of his senior year. Fortunately, the family\u2019s financial circumstance allowed for hiring a private coach to accompany Lane on his trips to Switzerland, France, Mexico, and other countries. He ultimately achieved his dream and competed in the Australian Junior Open in January, in which he ranked in the top 250 junior players in the world. \u201cWe have three other kids, and you have to have an adult travel with your child,\u201d says Darcy. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to compete internationally to get recruited for college,\u201d she adds. \u201cThat was part of his dream, and we are lucky enough to be able to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering the Costs<\/h2>\n

Expenses, adds Darcy, are also a big consideration when it comes to elite sports: They are\u00a0typically very costly. In fact, the headline of one 2014 article says as much: \u201cWant Your Kid to Win the Open? Spend $400,000 on Lessons.\u201d \u201cI had no idea how much money we\u2019d be spending on equipment alone,\u201d says Darcy. Lane wears through a pair of tennis shoes in two weeks at a cost of about $100 per pair. He also carries eight rackets in his bag, since he typically breaks at least one racket string per match, at a replacement cost of $25 per string. \u00a0As a result, Lane\u2019s family has invested in their own tennis stringing machine. (Nice ones can be priced between\u00a04,000 and $12,000, and a roll of 12 rackets\u2019 worth of string costs about $250.) A corporate sponsorship helps offset some of the equipment costs for Lane, but certainly not significantly enough to make the sport\u00a0an inexpensive activity.<\/p>\n

Clinics, classes, and private instruction also add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars each year, with costs varying depending on location, duration, and the level of experience of the coaches. ActivityHero can help families find tennis programs that are best suited to their child\u2019s needs, level of interest, and geographic location.<\/a> The website\u00a0can also help parents\u00a0compare costs, cancellation fees, instructor experience, and more.<\/p>\n

Tournaments each require an entry fee and often travel expenses, too, which can include a hotel stay and airfare, as well as meals and other incidentals. And if you\u2019re going into an elite sport hoping that the costs may one day be offset by a college scholarship, that\u2019s not a given.\u00a0\u201cYou can\u2019t go into a sport thinking, \u2018My kid is going to get a scholarship.\u2019 If it happens, it\u2019s awesome, but it\u2019s not a realistic expectation,\u201d\u00a0says Darcy.\u00a0\u201cSome schools may not offer athletic scholarships at all [the Ivy League does not], and others may only offer them to a few students \u2013 or they may offer only a partial scholarship. It\u2019s very rare to receive a full scholarship for tennis.\u201d Even recruitment (with or without a scholarship) can be iffy. \u201cThis year there are around 15 out of 150 kids in Menlo School\u2019s senior class who were recruited by a college for their sport,\u201d she estimates.<\/p>\n

Thinking Past the End of His Racket<\/h2>\n

Lane is excited to get on the court as a Harvard player in a few months, but right now he\u2019s focused on recovering from an injury \u2013 another factor in elite sports that parents shouldn\u2019t ignore. \u201cThey ask you that question in Ivy League interviews,\u201d says Darcy. \u201cIf you get hurt the first day of college, what are you going to do here if your sport is your whole identity?<\/em>\u201d Colleges try to get the kids away from thinking that they are just there to play their sport, so it\u2019s not a bad idea to talk with your child about this throughout their years of play.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, says Darcy, if your kids are still little, try to live in the moment and enjoy life one clinic, lesson, or match at a time.<\/strong> \u201cDon\u2019t say, \u2018I want this kid to play this sport in college,\u2019\u201d she advises. There are simply too many variables that will occur over the ensuing years that can change that initial plan. Her third son, who recently dropped tennis to take up lacrosse in middle school, is proof enough of that. \u201cNow I\u2019m just having my daughter play everything,\u201d says Darcy of her fourth child, who is 10 years old. Though Darcy\u00a0and her husband would love for each of their kids to play the \u201cfamily sport\u201d in some capacity, they ultimately want their kids to be happy. And that, she says, is the best way to gauge how long they should stay in a sport and how far they should try to take it.<\/p>\n

\"TennisTaking Your Child\u2019s Sport to the Next Level<\/h2>\n

Darcy says that summer is the best time to explore kids\u2019 new interests, build skills for their favorite sport, and check out different and sometimes more challenging programs. To see what your local area (and other areas in the country) have to offer, go to ActivityHero<\/a> and enter your child\u2019s interests to receive a customized list of providers that might be a good fit for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Competitive tennis: One family’s journey from summer tennis camps, clinics, and private instruction to competing for an Ivy League school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/template-cover.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[760,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4618"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11929,"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618\/revisions\/11929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.activityhero.com/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}