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Frequently Asked questions

It is important to start your tennis journey with a clear goal and result in mind.

The question is do we want our kids to become a professional tennis player and take it as a career or we want them to play high school level tennis and USTA tournaments to fortify college applications. Below are the FAQs to help you plan a successful roadmap to college admissions.

1.

How long will it take for my child to play tennis?

Tennis is one of the hardest sports to learn. It needs a lot of court time to cover technique, movement, strategies, and the mental aspect of the game. It takes about 10,000 hours or about 6 to 8 years of training and 4 to 5 hrs a day 7 days a week to develop a great professional competitive tennis player. 

 

But if you only want to a successful high school tennis player then 2 times a week consistently for 4 to 5 years can make a decent high school level player. In addition, with a little more commitment you can go on to play USTA tournaments and maybe even college level at division 2 or 3. This is the bare minimum commitment.

2.

Will changing coaches affect the student's game? 

No it will not - all associate coaches are not substitute coaches they are coaches. They are all college level players who have been training for years and playing a lot of USTA tournaments and college level tennis, which is a big achievement. All the lessons are pre-planned and directed by the head coach according to head coach's observation of the student.

3.

Why start off with private lessons?

Private lessons are costly, but you need private lessons to learn the technique as tennis is a very technical game. You learn the wrong techniques you will be playing wrong tennis, which means making a lot of errors in competitions and being very inconsistent with hitting the ball. Also if you don’t have right technique it’s injury prone. This is why private lessons are expensive as you have to cover the mechanics of every single stroke.

4.

Why group lessons?

In group lessons we focus on tennis fitness and footwork needed for the game and also match play to teach the student the rules of the game and the strategic plays in the game.

5.

Differences between head coaches and associate coaches?

Head coaches are very experienced former professional tennis players who have been teaching for over 20 to 30 years. Associate coaches are professional players, but with less experience of teaching approximately 5 to 10 years. So the rate will be different between a head coach and an associate coach .

6.

Common misunderstanding people have about playing pro tennis.

Most people will like to wait and see if the child develops the interest in tennis first then commit to pro-tennis playing. This is a common misunderstanding as if you want to build pro tennis player you have to start at an earlier age of 6 and train them vigorously. This training can't happen after they are 11 or 12, this will be to late. If they start at age 11 or 12 they might be able to play for high school, but not at competition level tennis.

7.

Will my child be able to play for high school?

Yes! This is our main focus and specialty. Preparing the kids for middle school to high school varsity level tennis is what we focus on. 99% of our kids have made all the best school tennis teams around South Bay.

8.

How to determine my child's progress?

This is one the biggest questions parents ask us after taking lessons for few months . If your kid is a beginner then we have to cover the areas below for them to play proper tennis for high school, recreational or competition level tennis:
 

  1. Technique - this is where they learn the mechanics of every stroke of the game and those are ( forehand / backhand / forehand and backhand volleys / forehand and backhand slice / smash / 1st and 2nd serves / serve returns. This is just the initial stage.

  2. Physical - this is where they learn how to move to the ball and apply the above strokes and footwork. There are different types of footwork we have to teach ( lateral movement / side step / cross step / etc ) also a lot of tennis fitness.

  3. Strategy - this is where they learn how to defeat the opponent. This consists of shot selection, points construction, court positioning, and reading the opponent etc.

  4. Psychological - the metal game. The ability to stay focused during a match. The mental toughness to come back when you are loosing and other metal conditioning that’s covered for the game.

SAI Tennis Foundation is a prestigious tennis academy, we uniquely specialize and customize the lessons as needed to fit different individuals. We have produced many talented players as shown on our website and majority of our players have played for the best high schools around the bay area. 99.9% of our clients are from word of mouth and that means it’s all organic growth. We have built trust with the community and the people for being a reputable tennis school. We don't compete, we dominate.

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