Article Contributed on: 9/16/2008 12:28:52 PM
Story by Lennon McCarthy
On February 15, 2008,
Matt Nelsen, a young entrepreneur and USPTA Tennis Professional, realized a life long dream and opened Drop Shots Tennis, a facility that provides tennis lessons to children ages 2-8. Drop Shots Tennis provides a completely unique experience and takes coaching children's tennis to a whole new level.
Rather than using full-size, outdoor courts, Nelsen instead shrunk the courts, nets, and rackets and moved the game indoors. With carpet floors, the two miniature courts are approximately half the size of regulation courts. Combine that with softer, low pressure balls, and small rackets, the facility is setup to maximize a child's success and breeds confidence in developing the important fundamentals of the game.
"In today's society, children are learning sports at a very young age; however, the game of tennis does not easily lend itself to small children playing it. Typical tennis courts are very large and intimidating," said Nelsen. "Drop Shots Tennis will provide a more child-friendly atmosphere to the game of tennis...the scaled down equipment and courts allow children to develop proper stroke technique at a young age."
In addition to teaching the fundamentals of the game, coaches at Drop Shots Tennis also work to develop children's dexterity, cardiovascular health, and overall athleticism, all while emphasizing important life skills such as following directions, patience, good sportsmanship and more.
Parents sign their kids up for eight week sessions split into one class per week. Student's learn one of four shots (forehand, backhand, volley, and overhead) every week and by the end of the session will have practiced each stroke twice. As students increase their skill level, coaches progress to more advanced instruction on things such as serves, rallies, scoring, and actual matches. Both parents and coaches alike see vast improvement in most students week to week, and the kids love coming to Drop Shots Tennis.
"My twin girls really like everything about Drop Shots [Tennis]," said
Le Ann Fead, mother of two students. "The coaching is good and friendly. I really like the way the program is setup."
Each hour long class typically breaks down into three separate stages. During the first stage, students receive instruction on the shot they will learn and practice that day. Stage two is an obstacle course made up of hoops, bars, poles and more. Students are clocked as they make several attempts to run through the various obstacles, continually trying to best their times. After a quick drink of water, the class moves on to stage three, games! Depending on the shot of the week and the skill level of each class, coaches decide the appropriate games to play that emphasize fun, yet still develop tennis skills.
"It is an absolute joy seeing so many children progressing as tennis players everyday at work," said Nelsen. "One day I want to see a new up and coming professional tennis player that developed their career at Drop Shots Tennis."
After finishing an eight week session, students are given a marker to sign any one of the tennis ball halves attached to the walls of the facility. And, though it's too early to tell, perhaps the next
Roger Federer or
Steffi Graf will have signed their first autograph at Drop Shots Tennis.
Drop Shots Tennis
720.276.0550
www.dropshotstennis.com
**Try us out - the 1st lesson is FREE**