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NEGATIVE Side to Playing High School Tennis:
Developing Bad Habits
After spending four months on-court with less devoted “hobbyists”, Mark develops bad work ethic issues, poor shot selection, and poor mental toughness.
Quantity versus Quality Practice Time
Most often Mark is goofing off with intermediate teammates or even assisting them with their games. While on the court, he’s even texting friends and making plans for Friday’s party.
Quality of Match Level
Mark wins 8 out of 10 matches 6-0. Winning most matches easily may be great for his ego but not for his long term development. Mark needs a competitive environment to continue to grow and improve.
College Scholarship Factor
According to top Division I coaches speaking at my seminars, Coaches look at national rankings and ITF rankings. They don’t consider high school ball as a High-Performance Level.
The Success Formula
Remember that the success formula is spending approximately 20 hours of serious training every week for approximately 10 years. Is playing high school tennis for 4 consecutive months 4 years in a row in Mark’s developmental plan?
Rebuilding the Level
It actually takes an additional 2 months of serious physical, mental and emotional training after the high school season ends to re-establish the high-level Mark was playing before the season. Now, factor in a six-month loss in training time. As Mark chose to de-stress and have fun playing high school ball for 4 months. His rivals who have chosen to skip high school tennis have continued to improve their games as well as their rankings.
