Tennis Camp - A Wise Investment?

If your child is training to be the next great tennis player then you may be wondering if a few weeks at a tennis camp is a good idea. The plain facts of the matter are that each child is different. What is best for one child may not be best for another, but some general guidelines will usually be quite helpful in deciding if sports camp is a good idea. Making a good decision can mean encouraging your child, making the wrong decision could turn your child against tennis for life and may be potentially devastating so always proceed with caution.

You need to first consider your child. If you have a child who is ready and determined to train for the Olympics for example then working towards finding a suitable tennis camp is a good idea. However, if your child merely enjoys tennis as a hobby then finding a tennis camp for much longer than a couple of hours a day may have the result of burning them out on the sport. Ensure that your child is participating at a reasonable level, this means if all year long your child is practicing tennis for a couple of hours each day that perhaps a few weeks off in the summer will be good for them.

You should also carefully look for the perfect camp. Never choose the first camp that you find. You want to look around and see what the focus of each camp is, whom the instructors are, what type of safety precautions they provide and you should also ask how they screen the staff. It is especially important to be cautious now with so many horrible adults gaining access to children. You need to know that your child is safe if you send them to camp.

Additionally you need to compare the costs of the camp with what you are getting. If the camp costs more than several months’ worth of lessons you need to be assured that they are going to have plenty of time to work on their skills. If all they are doing is sitting around a campfire singing and dancing then there are better uses for the money. However, if you are looking for just a fun camp and they also offer some tennis classes then this would be much more acceptable. A camp that is geared specifically towards tennis needs to provide some good reasons why your child should attend in order to really earn your business.

One of the last things that you need to consider is your own personal schedule. If you are planning another family trip at the same time then perhaps skipping the summer tennis camp is a wise idea. Spending time with the family is much more important than getting a few extra hours of tennis practice worked in. Take the time as a family to get away from everything and then allow your child to pick back up on classes when you return.

This will work wonders towards giving your child a much needed break, allow your family to bond and help everyone ensure that they have time for some other activities as well other than those they engage in all of the time on a normal daily basis. Work to make time for a few family activities and you should see your child improve on the court.