My Tennis Child Has 4 Ages? What Is That?

In tennis, one has to consider many factors evaluating any child. One important fact to consider for tennis parents and coaches is the age of the child. Of course, we all know how old the child is. What we don’t know is what other factors to consider with regards to age. Here are some to ponder.

In tennis there are 4 ages, let us say Johnny is now 10.

The chronological age: The actual age the child has, in Johnny’s case he is 10.

The mental age: The actual maturity age of a given child, Johnny can be either 8, 10 or 12
It is key to understand this as if the kid is 10 and acts like an 8-year-old, there are limits to what he can be taught, if he is 10 and acts like 12, the limits of what he can be taught are higher. He can be taught more tactics.

The biological age, kids can be small or big, there are bone studies that an endocrinologist performs to tell you the exact biological age of the child, in our example let’s say Johnny is 10, but physically he is 8.

The last age is the tennis age, how long has Johnny been playing tennis, let’s say he has been playing for 3 years, that would be his tennis age.

To summarize: Johnny is 10, thinks like a 12-year-old and has a body of an 8-year-old and has a tennis age of 3.

Great, so now when you compare your child with another child, he/she will have a mix of other ages and though the same age as your child, is actually much different than your child or pupil.

So, let’s say Bill is also 10, but physically is 12, mentally is 8 and has been playing tennis since age 3, so he is 7 years old. As you can see, though similar in age, the kids are much different in mental age, biological age, tennis age. Why does this matter?

Well, it matters a lot, because as a parent and coach you need to understand these differences to know when to teach what and expect one kind of a result. It is also very helpful to understand these ages when moving kids to a full court. It certainly should help tennis parents and coaches when they expect their kids to win or beat someone, with no actual knowledge of all these differences.

My humble advice is this; parents, focus on the fun and the development of the child, there are many factors that add to the learning curve, the four ages is one of them. Not all kids though 10, are better off playing in a full tennis court or with yellow balls, and though a small kid might be genial and can apparently play in a full court, as a parent you are not necessarily protecting the kid from being injured by the physical demands place on such a small bone structure.

Remember, not all kids have the same age, though they have the same chronological age. Let them have fun, winning or expecting them to win is secondary to their enjoyment.

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