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There is this kid I know who is a talented soccer player. He trains twice per week with his club - two hours at a time. On the weekend, he and his teammates get to the grounds an hour early to prepare for their league or cup match, and sometimes they may have up to four games over a two-day period. All the players are very technically sound and understand how the game should be played. The team has three coaches who trawl the sidelines during the games criticizing, correcting, reinforcing good plays, congratulating successful and unsuccessful attempts, but they all appear to be a little on edge throughout the duration of the match. Last week there was a scout from Manchester United watching his team and taking notes. The kid recently got promoted to this group after some solid performances for the second team. He feels a lot of pressure to play even better to prove that he belongs on this team and is desperate to keep his spot. In the process, his game and confidence has suffered a bit as he adapts to the faster tempo, becomes more fearful of making errors, and plays to keep his position rather than playing to develop. He was very upset after a recent training session as he felt like he made too many mistakes, and some of his basic skills were eluding him. The established players on the squad were getting frustrated with him, and the coach did little to encourage his teammates to be more supportive as he makes this transition. He appears to be losing some of the love he had for the game when he first started. In a few weeks, they will travel overseas to play against some of the top clubs in Europe.[[ IMAGE #1]]

The kid is actually my 11 year-old son!

Does anyone else think this is a bit crazy? Overzealous coaches, professional scouts, trips to central Europe, a deep focus on winning versus development - all for a group of 11 year olds who should be purely focused on their love for the game and figuring out what they need to do to continue to improve. I find myself very conflicted about whether he should continue in this system or not. I know it would break his heart not to have these opportunities, but would that decision prevent him from being soured from the game he loves later in his teenage years?

On the one hand, I am thrilled that he is going through this mild adversity and is forced to work out how he will get his confidence back, improve his self-talk and learn to stay present rather than worrying about failure. There are a lot of lessons to be learned, but does it all have to be so serious at the age of 11?!

What has this all got to do with tennis, you ask?

Well, I am seeing the same things happening in tennis. I get emails from parents asking about their 10-year old kids and how much they should be playing per week to put themselves in position to get a top college scholarship one day. As a college coach, I got to see the "final product" of years of coaching, sacrifice and hard work. I got to see firsthand if what we are doing is working or not.

My conclusion is that all this investment of time and money, more professionalized development structures and increased expectations is not benefitting these children in the ways we are hoping it would. Despite better facilities, increased competitive pathways, and more educated coaches, the level of tennis I see is only marginally better than what it was two to three decades ago. There is more depth in the college game, but I don't see a significant improvement at the top levels - and I don't see the type of improvements I once saw in college players over a four-year period because they have already played so much by the time they set foot on campus.