Competitive Junior Tennis: Is It Worth It?

I often get the question from tennis parents, “Is the craziness of competitive junior tennis really worth it?” Competitive junior tennis isn’t an easy path, and it certainly isn’t for everyone, but for those of us who have come out the other side, the answer is a resounding “YES!”

“Junior Tennis Survivors”: That is what we have named our Facebook Group. Some have said that sounds negative, but we wear it with pride as a badge of honor. We have a unique bond. We understand each other without having seen each other for decades. We support each other. We are there for each other. We are a family. We have a shared childhood experience that few can comprehend, relate to or begin to appreciate.

We get together periodically to laugh -we love to laugh about it now- and reminisce about our childhood in junior tennis. The drama of matches won and lost, adolescent mishaps, teenage mayhem, 6 am Easter Brunches from the McDonald’s drive-through, Thanksgiving Dinners from the refrigerator section at 7-11, family vacations at the Holiday Inn near the tournament site, and countless planes, trains and automobiles adventures getting from tournament to tournament.

Growing up we were kids, best friends, and rivals. We are now confident, independent, and grateful adults. How did tennis help us get here?

Independence

Independence is bred into you with competitive tennis, whether you like it or not. You truly cannot survive without it. You are the only one on the court during a match and must rely on yourself. We are all strong independent adults. We have used it to have successful careers, raise families and safe to say; we will always be able to take care of ourselves.

Resilience

Tennis is a sport of resiliency. You hit the wrong shot, and you are paying for it in the next shot. You play a terrible point, and you have to start another point in less than 20 seconds. You lose a match, and you still have to get back out there for the next match, which can sometimes be an hour later. You continually have to bounce back from small and large challenges. Like any walk of life, many of us have had our share of bumps on the road with special needs children, failed marriages, the death of a loved one and life-threatening diseases. There isn’t a time you are more grateful for the resiliency tennis teaches you, than when you need it, and use, it successfully in “real life”.

Work Ethic

You quickly learn a good work ethic if you want to succeed on the tennis court.  What you put in, is what you get out. There are no shortcuts. We learned how to set goals, map out the work required and re-evaluate as we progress.

Confidence

I find it most interesting that “confidence” is one of the main challenges for competitive tennis and yet, it is the most consistent take away from the sport. Many times, we are our own worst enemy on the court -during matches, we talk to ourselves in our head as if we are mass murderers- We get nervous and double fault on match points. We lose matches after having multiple match points. At the same time, we win matches after being down match points, come up with a screaming winner at the key time, or run down that one extra ball to win a match. One of the main components of confidence comes from work ethic. Confidence must be earned.

Tolerance

We grew up with diversity. Players came from all parts of the country (and around the world if you went on to international play) all religions, races, family units, sexual orientations, and lifestyles. The tennis court was our playground. We saw forehands and backhands; we didn’t see cultural and lifestyle differences.

Gratitude

More than anything we have tremendous gratitude for the priceless friendships, for all the countless resources and family time our parents sacrificed for our passions, and for the life lessons and skills learned on the tennis court.

As kids, we didn’t understand -or care- how our tennis experience was going to help us later in life. How the butterflies of nerves hitting the first serve of a match are preparing the surgeon for the butterflies before making an incision. How the confident close out of a match is preparing the lawyer for his closing arguments in a big trial. How the ongoing problem-solving during a tough match is preparing the business owner to adapt to the changing marketplace.  How the love of the game is preparing the future coach to share their passion and knowledge to the next generation of players.

So, when you have that moment of doubt and wonder if all the craziness is worth it, know most of us on the other side answer with an absolute, “YES!” We have some scars, battle wounds and chinks in our armor but very few, if any, of us, would trade it in for a “normal” childhood. We are Junior Tennis Survivors, and we couldn’t be more grateful for all the life lessons learned on the junior tennis circuit.

Please share any of your positive life lessons in with your tennis or your child’s tennis in the comments section.

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