Youth
The best part about tennis is it grows with the kids!
Anyone can pick up a racquet. Anyone can play.
Serve First Racquet Sports offers a variety of programming for the kiddos ages 5 and up. We accept beginners at any age, so don’t worry if your child is in middle or high school and has never touched a racquet. It’s never too late!
Program Description
Program descriptions are below for our various clinics, so you can learn about what to expect when registering. If you prefer one-on-one time for your child, we offer private lessons, too.
For additional and fun options, you can check out Youth Try Tennis or Junior Team Tennis!
Parents (or students) may choose skills to focus on for private and semi-private lessons. You may schedule a 30 min ($30), 45 min ($45), or one hour ($60-70) lesson with any of our available instructors. We ask that you please book these lessons in advance. We are unlikely to be able to accommodate walk-ins.
Red Ball (typically ages 5-8, 45 min, $15)
Foam balls, red in color, bounce lower and move more slowly through the air. This gives younger and beginner players more chances to get in place with their feet, line up, and take a solid swing. Players learn focus, attitude, motivation, and effort.
This level covers hand-eye coordination, footwork, and tennis basics including serving, rallying, and scoring.
The court is 36 feet long and 18 feet wide.
Orange Ball (typically ages 7-9, 1 hr., $20)
When a player is comfortable at red, they may graduate to the orange ball – which moves with more speed and more bounce, while remaining highly manageable for young players.
At this level, players begin to learn about tennis-specific movements. Students are exposed to court positioning and proper form for serve, ground strokes, and volleys
The court is 60 feet long and 21 feet wide for singles (27 feet wide for doubles).
Green (typically ages 8-10, 1 hr., $20)
This ball bounces most like a “traditional” tennis ball but with a lower compression, so it rebounds off the court lower than a yellow ball. Students advance to this level after mastering orange ball skills.
Green players cover the ABC’S – agility, balance, coordination, speed, and strength. Instructors focus on ball control including direction, height, depth, speed, and spin.
As their skills progress, students can focus on point construction, hitting targets, and playing with focus and a strategy.
At this level, players use the same dimensions as a traditional tennis court – 78 feet long and 27 feet wide for singles (36 feet wide for doubles).
Yellow (typically ages 10+, 2 hr., $30)
This is what most people know as “tennis.” The balls, courts, and racquets at this level are used in most adult matches and at the professional level.
Most students will pass a skills test to advance to this level of play.
Instructors may tailor these clinics to groups of players based on age, experience, and skill level. Yellow players are able to compete in traditional match play and can keep their own score.
Children do not have to be competitive Juniors to be enrolled in Yellow clinics with Serve First.
Did you know tennis is a team sport? One of the best ways to experience that fun is through Junior Team Tennis, a United States Tennis Association program.
JTT brings together kids ages 5-18 to play singles, doubles, and mixed doubles against other coed teams of similar ages and skill levels.
This environment promotes healthy competition, individual growth, social development, and life skills.
Serve First Racquet Sports will host JTT in the fall of 2022, so stay tuned for more updates.
Click here to learn more about JTT opportunities.
Serve First Racquet Sports supports all beginners of all ages, and one of the best ways we do that is with Try Tennis.
It’s just what it sounds like – letting kids give tennis a try. For $40 players receive a right-sized tennis racquet, six weeks of lessons, and a t-shirt!
Your child will learn enough skills to play in a beginning match including the basic strokes (forehand, backhand, overhead, volley), how to rally, how to play points, scoring, and basic tennis etiquette.
We offer a pathway beyond Try Tennis into Try Play and Try Match because we know tennis is a sport for a lifetime.
Look at the schedule to see when the next session of Try Tennis is open.
We can’t wait to meet the kiddos!
In 1970 Winston-Salem Tennis, Inc., one of our local community tennis associations, founded Young Folks’ Tennis to expose children to this great sport.
Young Folks Tennis provides free one-hour clinics on Saturday mornings to any child ages 6-14.
Serve First Racquet Sports is a proud supporter of this program and hosts several sessions throughout the year, weather permitting.
Free tennis instruction?
What’s not to love?
Check out which YFT sessions are available to you.
Registration is required.
