Joining the USPTA was one of my best decisions after becoming a tennis-teaching professional. In fact, I credit the USPTA for my success at my current position. My membership has kept me on the cutting edge of both the teaching aspect of the game and also the technology that goes along with it. It has also given me a chance to travel and to meet some of the best tennis professionals in the business today. But why do I credit it directly with success at my club?

Programs. The business has changed drastically since the day I became a professional. No longer can you succeed by just being a good player and teacher. Today tennis is a business whereby both you and your facility must be profitable. Good programs make this happen! If I had to pick the best program that the USPTA has given me, my choice hands down would be Little Tennis. This program is more than children running around and hitting stationary balls. I hope with this article I can convince you to try Little Tennis at your facility.

• Step 1 - Begin slowly and be patient. Like any new program, success doesn’t come overnight - give it time. My suggestion would be to offer one 30-minute session for 3- and 4-year-olds per week, one 60-minute session for 5- to 7-year-olds per week, and one 60-minute session for 8- to 10-year-olds per week.

• Step 2 - Purchase USPTA’s Complete Guide to Little Tennis and equipment. When the parents and children walk onto the court for the first time and see all of the colorful teaching aids, it makes quite an impression. But more importantly, the Little Tennis lesson plans and the graduated equipment makes it fun and speed along the learning process. When my two children, Mark and Kara, were 3 years old I began teaching them tennis. Little did I know that you really can’t teach a 3-year-old tennis, but you can teach them movement and striking skills that eventually lead to learning the strokes of the game. It is not much fun swinging a racquet and only hitting air. This does not occur in Little Tennis.

• Step 3 - Find the participants. Look first to your membership roster - especially the younger parents. Keep in mind that most people would not begin to think of putting their 3- or 4-year-old in a "tennis program." Advertise at local day-care facilities and nursery schools. Perhaps take some of the equipment to a school or center and do a "show and tell."

• Step 4 - Staff it properly. Be advised that you need to keep your student/teacher ratio smaller, especially with the 3- and 4-year-olds. Also, you need a person with a lot of patience who understands and loves kids. Both national board member Harry Gilbert and I use our wives, both of whom have degrees in education and experience working with young children. With this group, keeping it safe and making it fun is essential. They will learn and want to come back.

• Step 5 - Display the road map. Nothing is more impressive than the sample chart in the Little Tennis manual. It lists programs for all age and ability levels and could include the days and times offered each week along with the skills needed to be eligible for each level. Nothing impresses a parent more than knowing that their child can start a program and, as they improve, begin another phase that will allow them to keep learning and improving. I recommend posting a chart similar to this at your club and keeping the days and times set from year to year. This way, if a child is in another activity or sport, it can be scheduled without a conflict.

• Step 6 - Sit back and watch it grow. Since I began Little Tennis, the majority of my after-school children’s programs and my junior summer tennis camps have been filled and have had waiting lists. I have had to hire an additional full-time professional along with two part-time instructors to help with the instruction of both our group and private lessons.

Our beginner adult private and group instruction has also grown because of Little Tennis. Parents bring the children, see the fun and success happening and want to try it themselves. The equipment and the Pro Penn Stars ball also work great in teaching the entry-level adult.

Our pro shop business has also grown since Little Tennis began. We have put in a children’s line of clothes and racquets that has done very well for us. Since we now have more beginner adults playing, our racquet, shoe, clothing, ball and accessory business has also taken off.

Little Tennis has also had an impact on the membership at our club. Well over 30 new families have joined Coral Ridge Country Club after enrolling their children in our Little Tennis program.

So, is Little Tennis just about young children and some colorful props? No! It’s about keeping your junior programs filled in the future. It’s about attracting adults (parents) to your private and group programs. It’s about increasing business in your pro shop. It’s about attracting new members to your clubs and facilities. And lastly, but most importantly, it’s about a fun way to keep our great sport growing. Thank you Tim Heckler, Townsend Gilbert, George Bacso, the USPTA staff, the children and parents who volunteered to be part of the pilot program at the World Headquarters, and all who have contributed their ideas and made this great program happen.