Thirty30 Tennis Blog: Great Facebook post by Kris Soutar of The Service Box on 'Competition'
Updated: Dec 6, 2019
I came across the following Facebook post by Kris Soutar of The Service Box and wanted to share it.
The post can be found here or read below:
Earlier today I had someone ask me a question....
“Do you believe it’s a coach’s job to encourage their players to compete?”
For me, it beggars’ belief that this is even a question anyone would ask but it’s indicative of how much the tennis coaching industry has changed in the last 15 years.
We live in an era of programmed activity where people fill their diaries with allotted slots.
As a consequence, coaches often do the same.
Tennis is a sport. Sport revolves around a game and the game should be at the centre of reason people participate.
We need a competition structure that offers opportunities to all ages and stages with a huge emphasis on adult tennis. If there is a culture of competition with adults then this creates a huge pool for juniors to aspire to.
At the moment, children are falling off a cliff when they are nearing the end of their junior years. It has almost become as if junior tennis is a different sport to adult tennis.
Solutions!!
1. Create tennis programmes where competition is embedded alongside coaching
2. Create internal club competition
3. Create local competition structure for all ages and stages with huge emphasis on team tennis
4. Create collaboration with local areas, districts and counties to develop stronger competition options for those who wish to travel and test themselves
5. Create national frameworks where more players can regularly test themselves in their age group and any other age group they qualify for
6. Create a money tour where aspiring professionals can earn without having to break the bank
7. Create a tour school where genuine world class players can tap into funds to test themselves on the international stage. Contract states they pay back funds out of future prize money
There is so much of pathways at the moment. Coaching/training pathways mean nothing unless we have competitive pathways running alongside them.
[T30: Kris has received numerous comments that are well worth a read]
Thirty30 Tennis Comment
Kris makes a lot of very valid points here and Thirty30 agrees with everything.
Playing lots of competitive or 'fun' sets & matches is fundamental to the ongoing enjoyment of playing the sport of tennis.
The shorter scoring format Thirty30 tennis has been created to encourage youngsters into tennis and to encourage more competition.
Thirty30 tennis
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Shorter matches
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More matches
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More opponents
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MORE FUN!
The Rules of Thirty30 are simple:
1. All games start from 30-30; announced “thirty-thirty”.
2. If a set reaches 6-6, a nine-point tiebreaker (first to five points) is played, with sudden death at 4-4.
3. No tiebreak in final set.
4. Change of ends after the first two games and then every four after that.
5. Alternate servers for the start of each set.
The game score ticks over more quickly, is more dynamic and a set takes no longer than a ‘bite-size’ 20 minutes to complete with a maximum number of three change of ends (or four if a tiebreak is required).
Match results still look like: 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 9-7 - i.e. identical to traditional tennis.
The transition from traditional tennis scoring to Thirty30 is seamless.
