Mini Tennis

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Age, court size & equipment

Mini Tennis RED is designed for children aged between 3 and 8 (depending on the ability, experience and physical development of the child). Mini RED 3 is the first level of Mini Tennis and is designed for preschool tennis or very young children. Mini Tennis RED 2 & 1 are designed for children who have completed RED 3, or, who are older than 5 and are slightly more able in their physical development. It should be played on a badminton-sized court using sponge balls or modified transition balls.

Scoring & competition

At Mini RED, children play tie break scoring (first to seven points) however depending on the group, or, for a final in a competition, the first to ten points (match tie break) can be played, even best-of-three tie breaks.

Coaches should focus on competitions being team based at RED level. Research shows that children respond best in team based situations. Competitions can be as regular as possible - remember that children like competing! Try to include competition into every lesson, such as the best overarm thrower, longest rally star, most consistent catcher and reward these children equally as much as the ones who win the tennis matches.

Coaching & using ,

To be an effective Mini RED coach, the lesson should last at least one hour. At the end of RED, coaches should try to increase the session time to one-and-a-half hours to allow time for quality A-B-C training (agility, balance and co-ordination) and competition. Because the children are young, which limits their ability to work in pairs, the ratio should ideally be 1:4 (one coach/ assistant to four children). The lesson plans provided at RED are based on 3 coaches/ assistants

on 3 badminton-sized courts with 12 children maximum.