Playing in tournaments should be a part of every tennis players regime who is looking to do more than just casual play with friends. Tournaments are what allow us to see what has sunk in and is working and what still needs to be worked on. It is also a great way to see what shots someone has confidence in and what your child’s natural tendencies are when the pressure is on. The only way to truly understand what your kid has down is by putting their game to the test when the pressure is on. So now the question is, how often should your child play tournaments.

How often your child should be playing tournaments is determined by their tennis goals, their practice schedule, and whether or not they are going through any significant changes in technique.

 

Tournament Scheduling

Tennis Goals

Playing in college

If your child wants to play tennis in college, they should be playing a minimum of 2 tournaments a month and a doubles tournament at least every other month (You can sign up for both singles and doubles in a single tournament most of the time). Tournament results are what give your child standing in the tennis community, and it is this standing that colleges will use when looking for new players.

If your child plays on a high school team, they can reduce the number of tournaments they play to once a month during the season. Since they will be playing a lot of matches during the week, you don’t want them to get overworked by playing too many tournaments over the weekend.

 

High School Varsity

Playing on a High School Varsity team isn’t easy and often requires hard work to secure a spot. Your child should be playing at least three singles tournaments and a doubles tournament every two months if they want to make their varsity team. High School teams often base their roster off challenge matches played during tryouts. The only way to prepare for these high stakes matches is to make sure your child has had plenty of experience playing in high-pressure situations. The easiest way to put them in a high-pressure position is by making sure they play plenty of tournaments.

During the high school tennis season, your child can take off from tennis tournaments since they will be playing plenty of matches during the week.

 

High School JV

Playing High School JV can be an incredibly fun experience for your child and a great way to boost their interest in tennis. If your child wants to try to make their JV team, they should try to play at least one tournament a month. A lot of JV teams have only doubles, so it is important for your child to play a doubles tournament every three or so months. High School teams usually base their ladder off challenge matches. To make the tennis team, your child is going to have to win at least a few of theirs. Again, the best way to prepare them for these matches is by putting them in USTA tournaments.

 

Club Team

Playing on a school team is not the only option out there. Plenty of tennis clubs have junior and adult teams of their own. These teams play other club teams in the area and can be a fun way to experience being on a tennis team if your child isn’t fully committed to tennis. Your child should try to play a tournament every other month or so if they are on, or want to be on a club team. Playing in a tournament will give them valuable experience and help them see what they need to work on so they can continue to improve their game.

 

Tennis Schedule

After looking at your child’s goals, it is essential to consider their tennis schedule when trying to figure out how often they should play tournaments. If their tennis is spread out across the week, then they should play the amount suggested in the paragraphs above. However, if your kid’s tennis schedule is centered around the weekend, you are going to want to play in half of the recommended tournaments. If you’re not sure how much your child should be playing based off their tennis goals, be sure to check out our article here on tennis schedules.

Practice is important, and most tournaments run on the weekends. If your child’s practice is centered around the weekend, it is likely they will miss valuable clinics and lessons when they play tournaments. You want to make sure your child balances their tournament play with practice so that they can continue to improve at a fast rate. If they only practice and never play tournaments or vice versa, your child’s progress will end up stagnating.

 

Technical Changes

If your child is going through significant changes to their stroke mechanics, you are going to want to limit the tournaments they play to half of the suggested amount.

Kids tend to fall back into old habits when they play in tournament matches. When they use the old habits in matches, they will take longer to learn the new technique. However, tournaments are still necessary to see how much progress your child has made when it comes to learning the big changes. Which is why it is important to limit, but not eliminate, the number of tournaments being played.

To find and sign up for tournaments in your area, the best way to do it is through the USTA here.

 

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