Hot Shots Tennis and Why It Works for Young Children
Children ages 11 & under aren’t mini adults, which is why the Hot Shots Tennis play format uses specifications designed to be age, size, skill and attention span appropriate for children.
The goal of Hot Shots Tennis is to establish court and equipment specifications ensuring maximum activity based on the ability to serve, rally and score. The court size and net height are smaller and to scale for the child, much like soccer, basketball and football.
It is difficult to imagine how young soccer players would perform on a full-sized field and goals. How much activity would there be if children played baseball on a major league field and how much fun basketball would be if young kids used baskets at the same height the pros use?
Children are certainly not as strong, so using racquets that are shorter and lighter enables them to swing and manoeuvre the racquets and have the ability to change direction, depth, speed and spin of the ball.
Tennis balls are lighter, softer and move slower through the air.
Young children have three to four times the reaction speed of an adult so they will get to and return more balls because the ball is moving slower and the court is smaller.
Even the scoring format is modified so kids are playing matches that are shorter to avoid injuries and are much more appropriate to the attention span of the child rather than playing matches the same length as the pros.