Public Tennis Inc. (PTI) is the developer of the Tennis 4 Learning (T4L) on-court/off-court activity series. PTI is creating a library of T4L activities and is pilot testing them with program partners in its service area. Typical partners are elementary schools and afterschool programs. While the project leader has used the T4L approach informally for a number of years, this project was funded in early 2020 to formally capture and fully develop T4L as an open platform for anyone to use free-of-charge. As a reasonable volume of topical coverage emerges, learning modules will be published on the web for use by organizations who share PTI’s commitment to tennis as a context and opportunity for teaching academic and life skills.
The Tennis 4 Learning Concept
In addition to exercise and wellness benefits, tennis presents a rich context and opportunity for activity-based learning. Public Tennis Inc. and other USTA NJTL (National Junior Tennis and Learning) organizations engage youth in programs which offer academic and life skills learning benefits. Structured and unstructured activities use the court, tennis games, tennis history, and tennis skills development as points of departure to explore and learn a multitude of life-enhancing and academic skills. For example, since playing, scoring, and understanding the sport involve angles, geometry, measurable forces, and quantities, mathematics and physics skills can be taught creatively and effectively. Additionally, players gain self-confidence, leadership skills, teamwork skills, and conflict management skills, along with an appreciation for developing a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, the simultaneous pursuit of specific (academic, life) topics and tennis proficiency provides a unique opportunity to learn to solve problems in much the same way we master tennis skills – by turning conceptual and theoretical problems into visual, physical, fun activities, and by breaking problems down and applying progressions, repetition, and practice.
Contexts and Activities
Tennis-related contexts, including but not limited to the following, are points of departure for T4L activities: the physical tennis court, tennis equipment, tennis history, tennis rules and the game, tennis-specific technique and skills, drilling and repetition, competition, physical and mental training, inclusion and teamwork. These contexts, typically supported by simple equipment and props, lead to engaging activities. Activities are the building blocks of T4L. For example, the physical court, supported by measuring tools, is a context for activities which teach and reinforce a broad range of concepts and skills including measuring, units of measure and conversion, related math and geometry, etc. Simple measuring tools like blocks and props like tennis balls lead to elementary activities with basic learning goals, while more advanced tools and court setups lead to goals with more complexity and difficulty. A key project goal is to enumerate a range of activities to fully demonstrate howT4L applies to a wide range of ages and levels.
Activity Cards and Train-the-Trainers Videos
T4L Activity Cards are activity descriptions for teachers and coaches to use as ready-to-go recipes and/or as starting points for creating variations and entirely new activities. The Cards include: subjects, topics, and learning goals; tools required and court setups; a step-by-step process for engaging the children; illustrative diagrams; desired outcomes and success metrics; and, suggested variations to adjust difficulty level up or down as needed.
T4L videos are “train the trainers” tools designed to teach instructors and coaches how T4L works, to set an instructional tone, and to reinforce key concepts which are pervasive to successful coaching and teaching — including progressions and optimal challenge, the use of leading questions to encourage involvement and discovery, and a number of coaching tips aimed at inclusion and group engagement.
Ideally, over time, instructors who organize T4L activities and view T4L videos will “get the hang” of creating engaging physical, tangible, visual activities and will create (and contribute!) their own opportunities for teaching the academic concepts, principles, and life skills which match their students’ needs and capabilities.
Group Coaching and Teaching Essentials
T4L is rooted in a set of group coaching and teaching practices and principles which not only guide the activity development effort, but also are fundamental to basic coach training and coach/teacher effectiveness. T4L activities are intended to be expressions of best coaching practices and opportunities to reinforce them. The coaching essentials document is the starting point for all T4L coaches.