Photo Credit: Courtesy of USTA
When kids sign up to play baseball, they don’t immediately take the mound at Yankee Stadium. They begin by hitting the ball off a tee, then from a coach, and then at a progression of distances, gradually increasing with age and skill. The same can be said for other sports, such as soccer and basketball; however, tennis has never had that luxury of time.
Until recently, the official rules of tennis called for the game at any age to be played on a full-sized (78-foot) court with regulation tennis balls. Organizations have made various attempts through the years to “kid-size” the game, but those attempts were seen as teaching tools and not “real tennis.” As such, a kid-sized approach never took hold, and participation numbers for ages 10 and under remained far below numbers for soccer, baseball and basketball.
In recent years, however, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), as well as numerous industry partners, have thrown their full weight behind right-sizing the game for kids through a format known as QuickStart Tennis. This means shorter courts (36 feet for 8 and under, and 60 feet for 10 and under), slower bouncing balls, lower nets, simplified scoring and smaller rackets.
