Project Talent would like to present a new tennis initiative aimed at the 8/U Orange ball age group.

As Hot Shots continues to gain in popularity as a successful and fun coaching pathway that allows for a quicker progression of player skills to the ‘Rally’ stage, we now look to ensure we can provide adequate competitive and talent development opportunities that match the training environment through building additional infrastructure around the 8/U age group.

We have seen many new initiatives over the past 18 months that has provided additional opportunities for the 10/U age group: Association Talent Development squads; Talent Development Camps; Super 10’s; National Super 10’s Final; and WTC ‘Money Can’t Buy’ experiences-Project Talent’s focus now expands to ensure the players who are coming through below the 10s are encouraged to play on the ball/court size that is appropriate for their age and ability, therefore being better prepared to step up to the green ball when the time is right.

Why?

The Orange court is one of the most important developmental steps in the tennis pathway. The reason for this is that with the official court guidelines, the width of an Orange court is 78.9% and the length is 75.7% of a traditional court. 8 yr olds are on average 75-78.3% of adult height. These percentages show that the Orange court is almost perfectly scaled to the size of the player and should create virtually identical footwork patterns, and tactical possibilities as an adult would have on the traditional court.

Also, by allowing children to compete within their peer group, we can gain a greater insight into how well they are ‘tracking’ in their development as we are essentially comparing ‘apples with apples’. This is an important education tool for not only the players themselves, but also for parents and for the private coaches of players.

The statement that ‘My child is talented!’ is often promoted because they are playing a high division of junior competition against much older children-this may say more about the lack of depth in our competitions than the perceived ability of the child, but also we know the limiting factors of playing ‘up’ at a young age:

  • tactics limited to moon balls played deep behind the baseline;
  • little redirection of the ball or offensive play;
  • almost little or no approach and net play.

The variety and intensity of play that can be attained by children using slightly slower balls and smaller courts is of a considerably higher level to that which can be achieved on the big court with a high bouncing ball.

What is it?

‘The Road to the WTC’ is a series of tournaments played using the Orange court guidelines and aimed at the 8/U age group which culminates in eight children being offered the opportunity to participate in an on-court exhibition during the World Tennis Challenge held from the 7-9th January, 2014 at Memorial Drive Tennis Centre.

This year, the events are open to all children born in 2005 or 2006.

Children will earn points for participation and also their performance during the events which will determine the top eight to be selected:

Points Table:

Participation-per tournament entered / 5 Points
Performance- Winner / 10 Points
-Runner Up / 5 Points
-Semi-Finalist / 3 Points
-3rd in Pool / 2 Points
-4th in Pool / 1 Point

The events will be noted as ‘WTC Series Event’ in the marketing for the 8/U age group only.

Where and When?

The WTC Series events for the 8/U age group will be as follows:

  1. 8/U Association Closed Tournament (held on the Association Development Days in September-see your Association Junior Co-ordinator for more information on entry)
  • EDTA 7th September
  • NETA 8th September
  • WDTA 14th September
  • SDTA 15th September
  • GDTA 22nd September
  1. 8/U Orange Ball Open event, 17th November 2013, Peake Gardens TC
  1. Tennis SA Hot Shots Tournament, 15th December 2013, Venue TBC
  1. WTC Exhibition for top 8 invited children, 9th January 2014.

Format:

-Competition will be mixed boys and girls for this age group, players participating in a Round Robin

-Matches will be timed and short sets to 4.

-The event will have a semi-final and a final.

-Racquet Guidelines 23-25 inch