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LTA Youth

LTA Youth is an initiative from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). Children between 3 and 10+ years old can now get stuck into the world of tennis with an exciting programme from the LTA to develop young talent in appropriate learning environments.

With smaller courts, nets and rackets and lower bouncing balls, LTA Youth Tennis offers the perfect introduction to the sport, with all the fun and energy of the real thing.

There are five stages of LTA Youth Tennis; Blue, Red, Orange, Green and Yellow, each with their own court size and type of ball. This tailored approach enables players to develop vital skills and techniques at an early age.

 

Stages of LTA Youth

 

LTA Youth Blue

LTA Youth Blue is for children aged 4 to 6 years old and enables them to learn the basics and how to enjoy the game through a series of fun activities, based on the fundamental areas of balance, co-ordination, agility, movement and racket and ball skills.

 

LTA Youth Red

LTA Youth Red tennis is an ideal and exciting way to introduce tennis to young children. At this stage we introduce movement, co-ordination, balance and reception skills as well as the (more obvious) hand-eye coordination ball hitting skills.

 

LTA Youth Orange

LTA Youth Orange caters for the next age range on from LTA Youth Red. In this group, matches are played on three-quarter-sized courts using bright orange balls which are like a soft tennis ball and travel faster than the LTA Youth Red sponge balls (so you’ll need to speed up a bit!). Rackets, too, are getting bigger but are still not quite adult size.

 

LTA Youth Green

LTA Youth Green caters for the final LTA Youth age range before children move on to the Yellow band of the National Competition Framework. This fourth stage of LTA Youth is the transitional stage before full tennis. On a full size court with a slightly lower bouncing ball than is standard the players learn to apply their skills, technique and use tactics. They will compete individually as well as in teams matches.

 

LTA Youth Yellow

At this stage, you will be perfecting your game more than learning basic techniques from scratch; you will almost certainly take part in the internal club tournaments (if you wish) and optionally take part in other inter-club competitions for children up to 18 and the Road to Wimledon competition (for children up to 14). As you progress through teenage years, you may also enter the Singles Box Leagues that are running at present in the club. This will bring you into contact with other older teenagers and adult members. You may also be invited to play for one of the Hampton league teams and take part in individual national or regional singles or doubles competitions such as are advertised in national magazines e.g. On The Ball.

You can also, of course, consider further one-to-one coaching to help perfect aspects of your game. Our coaching staff will be pleased to advise on this.