How coaches build extraordinary humans from the inside out

The story of tennis as a tremendous asset in youth development is easy to see, whether the goal is competition or plain, old fun. The real headline lies in the extraordinary understory – the unfolding narrative inside the developing brain and body of the human being while fully engaged in the learning journey of becoming a player, and the star of this story is you. What you are about to read is meant to give a great deal of information so that you can see how deep the understory can go. So, please, do not let it overwhelm you. Instead, let it be a starting point for professional development opportunities.

More than just a game, tennis is a powerful vehicle for multi-dimensional holistic human development. Our dynamic, “open skill” sport can uniquely embed the behaviors, skills and mindsets shown by research to matter most across life during an exquisitely malleable chapter in youth development, when the brain and body are more open to new learning and long-term habit formation than at any other time. 

Picture this: a skilled and caring coach leads a group of juniors through organized drills, focused on technical and tactical skill building, followed by play. The energy is infectious. They are having fun while running around, batting balls back and forth, laughing, grimacing at a carelessly-missed shot, followed by shaking it off and recalibrating, and finally, socializing and processing while picking up balls. Time passes quickly, and soon, it is time for homework and dinner. Players leave happy after fun with friends and their parents are grateful for a healthy after-school activity (without a screen!)

But, what we see with the naked eye is just the tip of the developmental iceberg.

The understory of tennis is a much richer, more nuanced, and profoundly impactful narrative of lifespan development, with its colorful threads woven into every element of the mind-body tapestry of the human being. Each on-court experience is simply one stop on a long-term learning journey; while the coach is a powerful whole child educator, a coach of character, whose classroom just happens to be the multi-modal experiential learning lab of the court, and the sport of tennis itself a life coach of epic proportions.

With skill, science and soul, the whole child coach leverages tennis to embed habits and mindsets that foster preventive health behavior, creativity-fueling brain chemistry, character strengths, social-emotional learning, stress management strategies and meaning-making that fortifies resilience. In short, through the secret sauce of the coach-athlete relationship, the endlessly complex, challenging and joyful journey of developing into a player builds healthy, adaptive, purposeful, connected, caring and engaged human beings. In the words of the great Billie Jean King, “It’s not failure, it’s feedback!”

While these major developmental assets can be learned and strengthened across life, they are embedded most seamlessly during childhood and adolescence. We humans are a 24/7, 365-day-a-year work-in-process, with nurture—the environments we are exposed to—shaping nature—our DNA and biochemistry—every moment of every day.

Relative to positive youth development, the optimistic science story is clear: when we design learning contexts that are emotionally warm, engaging, individualized, multi-sensory, appropriately challenging and characterized by high-quality developmental relationships with safe, trusted and supportive adults, magic can and does happen.