Colossal Tennis Player Development Pathway
The 5 levels of the Colossal Tennis Player Development Pathway are:
Red, Orange, Green, Performance, and Elite
Red
Ages: 4-6
Equipment: Red ball, 36-foot court, 19-21 inch racquet
Class duration: 1 hour
Description
Emphasis will be placed on developing the basic technical stroke and footwork parameters, developing a beginning understanding of tactics and rallying through individual and partner activities, and introduction of the athletic ABC’S (agility, balance, coordination, and speed).
Finally, team competitions will be utilized to introduce the concepts of competition in a fun, challenging, and encouraging environment.
Orange
Ages: 6-8
Equipment: Orange ball, 60-foot court, 21-23 inch racquet
Class duration: 1 hour
Description
Emphasis will be placed on the refinement and expansion of the technical, tactical, and physical foundations in the Red stage as well as the development of a new library of all-court skills. Players will learn to manipulate the spin, speed, and shape of the ball, and begin to explore new tactical situations due to the change in court size and shape. Physical ABC’S will be expanded upon and will be a part of every training session.
Additionally, at this age the student is starting to become more self-aware, and therefore will learn numerous character skills that will assist with learning while competing in primarily team-based situations.
An introduction to United States Tennis Association (USTA) Northern Section 10 and under tournament play is also strongly encouraged at this level.
Green
Ages: 8-10
Equipment: Green ball, regulation court, 25-26 inch racquet
Class duration: 1.5 hours
Description
Emphasis will be placed on refining the speed and efficiency of all skills learned in the Red & Orange Programs, learning and developing the new technical stroke and footwork skills specific to the Green Court, furthering the student’s tactical understanding through a more detailed exploration of the concepts of space, time, and opponent, and continuing to expand upon the student’s athletic literacy through the daily training of the physical ABC’S (agility, balance, coordination, and reaction speed).
At this age the student is now starting to become more self-aware and is learning to understand wining and losing, and therefore can begin to experience individual competitions mixed with team competitions. All of these elements and issues will be nurtured by fostering independence, critical thinking, and self-reliance in a safe environment where the emphasis is placed on learning, problem solving, and competition in a supportive team based environment.
Regular participation in USTA Northern Section 12 and under tournaments are strongly encouraged beginning with Level 7 and progressing to Level 5 events.
Performance
Ages: 10-14
Class duration: 2.5-3 hours
Universal Tennis Rating (UTR): 1-6
Description
Colossal Tennis Performance marks the player’s complete transition to the regulation court, ball and adult size equipment. At this stage we will see physical growth of the player with regards to size and strength, and improved emotional/mental capacity with the development of greater understanding, focus, and composure.
With respect to all of these changes, all technical and tactical parameters established in the previous levels must be practiced and maintained as speed, spin, shape, and depth of shot increases dramatically with the bigger, stronger, and faster athletes striking the higher bouncing yellow ball. By carefully monitoring and maintaining these skills the student will avoid any undesirable adaptations to their strokes and decision-making.
Emphasis at this stage will be focused on developing as complete of a tennis player and athlete as possible through an educationally sound comprehensive curriculum. Technically and tactically this requires the implementation and refinement of a complete arsenal of all-court skills and patterns of play practiced in both closed and open scenarios. Additionally, at this stage each player should be developing weapons to win the point in the form of an aggressive serve and groundstroke (preferably the forehand).
Physical training loads increase with the focus being on strength, endurance, and speed. On the emotional/mental side we can now begin to cover all aspects of the psychological game through weekly on and off-court exercises in order to create a more prepared, composed, and confident competitor.
Finally, at this point we will also be preparing our students for junior competition on the sectional and national levels. As such, daily and weekly training sessions will increase in duration and frequency, and a larger emphasis will now be placed on individual competition structures. Regular participation in the USTA Northern Section 12U or 14U tournaments (Level 5,4, and 3) is highly recommended, as well as participation in USTA National 12U (Levels 2 and 1) and 14U events (Level 3) when available.
Elite
Ages: 12-18
Duration: 2.5-3 hours
Universal Tennis Rating (UTR): 6+
Description
As the players enter Elite the students are now physically closer to adult size and therefore can handle the greater work, training, and competition loads that we would place on an adult without risking injury. Chronologically these students are older in age and more emotionally/mentally mature allowing them to handle more complex thinking and adversity while being placed in increasingly challenging training/performing situations without the risk of burnout.
In Colossal Elite the emphasis shifts from learning and developing skills to training and implementation of skills in competition. All of the previous Colossal Tennis programs have provided the students with the most complete technical, tactical, and physical foundation possible creating a well-rounded all-court player with an arsenal of tools at their disposal. Here is where the students will take their competitive skills and results to the next level at the sectional, national, and international stages. We now implement a yearly training/competition periodization plan into our complete comprehensive curriculum in order to maximize the results of our students.
These players will be participating in regular sanctioned tournament competition at the 14U, 16U, and 18U levels within the USTA Northern Section (Levels 4 and 3) and at USTA National events (Levels 3, 2, and 1).
Acceptance into the Elite program requires the successful graduation from the previous levels of the Colossal Tennis system, the necessary sectional/national ranking and UTR qualifications, a year-round commitment to training and competition, and pre-approval by Colossal Tennis co-founders Danny Kantar and Sion Wilkins.