Why Should My Kid Play Tennis?

By Rachele Cohen

I know what you’re thinking. “My 5-year-old loves to kick his soccer ball around…” “My 7-year-old daughter is crushing Little League baseball...” “My twins are the next lacrosse phenoms...” Your kids don’t need to play another sport, right? They actually do.

Studies (and plenty of kids’ sports coaches) say that children benefit both physically and mentally from participating in more than one sport – and if your children don’t play sports at all, tennis is the one to try. Tennis is one of the best physical and mental games anyone can play, period. Start your little ones in tennis early and they’ll benefit for the rest of their lives.

Tennis works the brain just as much as the body. From a very young age, your child learns how to “be” in the world and to solve problems large and small. Tennis teaches kids fundamental life skills at the most basic levels: “How do I want to serve this tennis ball?” becomes “how do I want to present myself to others?”; “I can win this point by hitting a forehand to my opponent’s right side” becomes “I can address this problem with my boss in a logical and respectful manner.” Above all, tennis instills confidence and independence in players of all ages (and does so while they’re having lots of fun).

Let’s not forget how great tennis is for physical health as well. Most tennis players are extremely physically fit, no matter the shape or size of the athlete. In tennis your child will use their entire body to serve, stroke, lob, volley, slice, and smash the ball over the net – and then they’ll have to be ready to return their opponent’s shot right away, which requires serious physical endurance over the course of a match. As tennis players, kiddos will learn to keep their bodies healthy and strong.

While singles players will enjoy all the benefits of tennis that I’ve already mentioned, once your child moves on to doubles play, the advantages of this sport just, well, double (no pun intended, really)! Playing tennis with a partner is a lesson in teamwork that will serve kids (okay, that was a pun) well in the years to come. Children will be asked to work well with others to achieve a common goal at school, at work, and in personal relationships literally for the rest of their lives. Why not give them the opportunity to hone that skill on the tennis court?

If I haven’t convinced you to let your kids try tennis yet, I’ll leave you with the most important piece of evidence yet: every time your children step on to the court to play tennis it will be super fun, it will never be boring, and each experience will be dynamically different than the last.