4 Essential Motor Skills Every Child Learns at a Tennis Academy
Dhwani Shah
June 4, 2025
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3 min read
“Tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love – the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence because every match is a life in miniature.” ~ Andre Agassi
They say our brains are most malleable during our early childhood years. Neuroplasticity is at its most impactful, making the brain highly receptive to sensory, motor and cognitive development. However, in a world where screen time has replaced outdoor play and physical movement, early childhood development is at risk.
According to research, excessive screen time, especially during early childhood, negatively impacts motor skill development, a skill which kids require to perform everyday tasks, engage in play and physical activities, explore new environments, and develop holistically. Reduced outdoor play also makes it difficult for kids to channel all the energy and enthusiasm bundled up within them. Thus, parents are always actively seeking structured sports programs that support both physical and cognitive development in children.
A recent study indicates that childhood motor performance is increased by participation in organized sport. Enter tennis - the perfect outlet for kids to not only get their little bodies moving but also boost essential motor skills and other physical, cognitive and social capabilities at a young age. Structured training programs at a professional academy can help children learn tennis skills and techniques that translate to life lessons, while developing and fine-tuning motor coordination which is crucial for their overall development and future success.
Read on to understand how learning to play tennis can boost essential motor skills in children.
Simply put, motor skills are those skills that allow us to perform movements. They refer to the ability to use and move muscles to perform specific actions and tasks such as jumping, eating, lifting, writing, and are developed over time through practice and repetition. Children use motor skills to perform everyday tasks like crawling, grasping, walking, balancing, and running.
Motor skills can be broadly categorized into gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
Gross motor skills are those that involve the movement of the whole body and use larger muscles in our legs, arms and torso. These skills enable kids to perform everyday functions like standing, running, and climbing the stairs. Other gross motor skills examples include throwing a ball, riding a bike, waving your arms, and even chewing. While these daily tasks seem natural and effortless, they require the precise coordination of the skeletal muscles, bones and the nervous system.
Tennis enhances gross motor skills by conditioning your large muscle groups, through court movement and ball striking skills.
Fine motor skills involve the use of small muscle groups in our hands, wrists and fingers. Fine motor skills examples include everyday activities like typing, using cutlery, using zippers, cutting with scissors. They allow kids to perform finer activities like writing, holding a pencil, or building their favorite Lego tower. Tennis aids in fine motor skill development through touch shots like angled volleys and drop shots.
Hand-eye coordination is the synchronized use of the hands and eyes to perform actions. The eyes understand and judge movement while the hands execute the task, like while performing basic activities like writing or driving. Almost every sport requires hand eye coordination—whether it’s aligning a shot in basketball, hitting a baseball with precision or maintaining balance in gymnastics.
Exceptional hand-eye coordination is one of the most important skills in tennis—tracking the incoming ball and executing the right stroke at the right time to return the shot is vital to earning match-winning points. Consistent practice under the right guidance aids in cultivating strong hand-eye coordination, which is essential not just for winning matches but also for executing a wide variety of daily tasks.
Here are some more exercises to improve hand-eye coordination in tennis players:
Spatial awareness is the ability to perceive one's body in relation to the surrounding space, objects and people. It allows us to be aware of the things around us and navigate our surroundings, an ability required for almost every other task, be it organizing your bookshelf, picking up a fallen object, navigating a map, or simply walking around a room without bumping into things.
In tennis, spatial judgement involves being conscious of where you are on the court, where your opponent is, where the ball is and where it will land, and how far to move to establish accurate point of contact. Tennis teaches children to assess court positioning, anticipate ball direction, and respond strategically, developing sharp spatial cognition.
Here are some other drills to develop spatial cognition in tennis players:
If you’re still debating the benefits of tennis for your child, let’s not forget the innumerable physical ‘advantages’ of the sport. Learning tennis helps improve flexibility, agility, speed, and balance. Being active also strengthens muscles, bone structure and density, as well as the cardiovascular system. Tennis keeps your child fit and healthy, which equips their immune system to combat diseases.
Moreover, tennis challenges the brain at every stage and trains it to be alert, critical and sharp. And of course, getting some fresh air is a foolproof way of keeping the mind and body alive!
In addition to all these significant benefits, probably the most important reason to sign your kid up for tennis is that it's fun! They’re going to meet new people and make new friends, all while learning a new skill and growing as a person.
If you’re a tennis academy owner looking to communicate the lifelong value of the sport to parents, emphasizing motor skill development through tennis can be a game-changing strategy. Moreover, highlighting the distinguishing features of your academy, such as structured training programs, professional coaches, student progress tracking and engaging instruction methods, will certainly compel parents to enroll children in your tennis classes.
Implementing a robust tennis academy management system like Classcard can simplify the above tasks and other administrative requirements of your academy, letting you and your coaches focus on delivering exceptional instruction. Our intuitive, feature-rich sports academy management software allows effortless class scheduling, streamlined online bookings, efficient attendance and payment tracking, and seamless communication between your team, students, and their parents.
So let Classcard help you ‘ace’ the game—book your free demo today!