School and a Junior Tennis Player
There is a question from a tennis parent
My son is 14 years old and he has been going to a regular school. But now He is struggling with full time school. He had an injury two months ago and now that he is back, he is struggling to get back to his game and at the same time there is a lot of pressure from school to attend regularly etc.
I want to take your advise on how good are the home schooling options as I feel the kids miss out on the social life and the overall development required in their teenage years. It’s a tough phase for my child and I want to support him in the best possible way.
Our tennis expert David Mullins answers the question
David Mullins
Hello, This is a very personal decision and I am not sure anyone can really give you a very good answer. You know your child better than anyone.
If you believe that his social life and overall development will be compromised in someway then I believe you have your answer.
Tennis should always be secondary to your child’s personal development. If you believe his development during these important teenage years would be better served staying in regular school than you need to put a lot of stock in that when weighing up the pros and cons.
Try and envision what is the best long term solution rather than a quick short term fix. Coming back from injury can take much longer than many players and coaches anticipate. The summer is just around the corner, and it might be best to take a few months and see how he is progressing towards the end of the summer, rather than making any decisions now so close to the end of the school year.
“Tennis should always be secondary to your child’s personal development.”
He may feel even more pressure to perform and play his best tennis if he is moving away from regular school, and believes he has to justify this decision with even better results on the court.
I would try to take some pressure off him by letting him know that his results at age 14 are relatively inconsequential to his long term success as a tennis player. Have him focus on getting back to 100% health, and reassure him that it is very natural to take a few steps back after an injury.
My experience as a coach has been that it takes almost as long as the lay off to get back to where you were. So if a player is out 3 months it may take them about that long to get back to the level of tennis and fitness that they were experiencing before they got sick or injured.
The best of luck with your decision.
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Hi in answer to your question about if your son would miss out socially , I would say not so, we home schooled at 14 his friends are still friends and the tennis friends are plenty ; with many matches in the summer and during the year, there are more opportunities to meet and mix with many age groups, including adults: as a result my son has grown in his ability to hold in depth and engaging conversations with many people he would have not otherwise met, and this is an essential life skill. It is not true that you learn from your peers you learn best from adults around you, and from participating in a sport like tennis. Tennis provides good opportunity to test your ability to react to winning and loosing , being good in attitude, etc. It is the best thing we ever did.