During a recent session with a group of orange and green players, I conducted a small experiment to understand how often they truly “play” tennis—uninstructed, uncoached, and unscripted. The results were telling and slightly disheartening.

I asked the players to raise their hands if they played tennis every week, and predictably, every hand went up. But when I refined my question to ask how many played without a coach, about 80% of the hands went down. Further probing revealed none had played a set that week. This points to a significant cultural shift in youth tennis: the game has moved from being a form of play to a structured activity dominated by adults, whether they be coaches or parents.

The Vanishing Playgrounds of Tennis

There once was a time when tennis courts were playgrounds. Children would spend entire days at the club, making up their own tournaments, creating ranking systems, and simply playing the game with the raw competitiveness and creativity that comes naturally to them. Today, that scene is rare. Most tennis engagement is heavily structured, with an adult always present, providing instructions, corrections, and often, solutions.

Why Unstructured Play Matters

Tennis, at its core, is a sport of problem-solving, critical thinking, and adapting to a highly variable environment. The current approach of structured, solution-oriented coaching strips young players of the opportunity to develop these essential skills. Instead of thinking on their feet, they’re learning to wait for instructions. Instead of playing to learn, they’re learning to play in a very confined sense.

The Consequences of Over-structured Play

This lack of unstructured play has broader implications than just underdeveloped tennis skills. It affects players’ creativity, decision-making abilities, self-esteem, and independence. When every aspect of play is controlled and dictated, players lose the ability to think independently and to learn from the natural consequences of their decisions during play.

Embracing a New Paradigm

We need to rethink our approach to coaching young tennis players. It’s essential to strike a balance between necessary technical coaching and giving players the freedom to play independently. Here are a few steps we can start with:

• Encourage Unstructured Play: Designate times during practice that are purely for unstructured play. Let players set the rules, keep the score, or even play without keeping score if they choose.
• Facilitate, Don’t Dictate: When overseeing unstructured play, resist the urge to correct every mistake. Allow players to figure things out on their own and learn from their errors.
• Create a Culture of Competition: Regularly organize informal tournaments or match-play sessions where players can compete without the pressure of formal outcomes. This can help restore the competitive, playful spirit of tennis.
• Educate Parents: Offer workshops or informational sessions to teach parents about the benefits of unstructured play and how they can support their child’s development without over-coaching.

By reintroducing our players to the pure joy and challenge of just playing tennis, we can help them develop not only as athletes but as independent thinkers and creative problem solvers. The game of tennis is rich with opportunities for personal growth, and it’s time we started fully leveraging them.