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HKITA Progressive Development System

Stage 2: REFINEMENT / TRANSITONAL PHASE

Age of Players: 10 -20
Years in Phase: 4 - 10
Learning Theme: Training and Competing

What We Teach:

Physical Skills

Young players should keep working on flexibility, speed, strength and core stability at this stage, with coordination well established, but it's endurance that becomes most important as our future champions begin to play longer and more intense matches.

Physical Work

Technically players are well established by this age but will now start to increase the range and power of shots, adding spin and angles mix up the rallies.

Technical

All the basic strokes should be consistent and will naturally be hit with increased racket head speed. Footwork is fundamental, helping balance and position for the stroke. The player can return the ball with a variety of speed, spin and with consistency and accuracy.

Tactical

Players now need to become more aggressive in their tennis.

This should be reflected on during matches and in their attitude whilst training.

Match strategy and tactics on different surfaces becomes increasingly important as talented players meet opponents who've trained in different climates and on different surfaces.

Mental Skills

By the age of 18, players will need to be fully self sufficient and ready for the tour, so the players should begin to plan for themselves. This includes goal setting, being self-disciplined on and off the court from tennis specific training to eating the right food. Players will generally understand their routines for practice and match preparation. In general, players should now take responsibility and pride in their performance and act like professionals.

Recommended Training Hours - 15 to 20 hours / week.

Competition

Players will now need to play about 70 individual matches each year, an increase from 40. These will range from representing local clubs to national competition, and is a balance between confidence building and extending the comfort zone to challenge the player.

Planning for training and competition

(At age 11, maximum 40 matches per year) At age 14, maximum 70 matches per year. At age 16, maximum 90 matches per year. Players will generally keep their Win:Loss ratio at 2:1 to 3:1.

Type of Instruction & Coaching - High performance coach, Established development plan, Systematic training program (Groups and Private).

Type of Competition - ITF tournaments, Hong Kong Nationals, Junior Series, ATF Under 14, World Junior Tennis, Junior Davis Cup/Junior Fed Cup


Other Stages:
Oversea Tennis Tours
Yale Showcase 2009
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