- Choose the program
First, you need to
decide the program and how long you want
to send a player to the tennis academy.
The main two types of programs are the summer camp and professional program (compitition pro, academy training).
Summer tennis camp - a program for children from 6 to 16 years old in summer. Its better to start searching camps in March - April the latest, to be able to get all details, information about
the academy and a visa (if required), and book tickets. In summer, the price of
air tickets is increased. Many of the Academy will organize the camp, not only
in the summer, but during the school holidays. If your child has a good tennis
level, I would suggest choose a professional program for the
summer period.
Professional program -
for any period of staying the whole year. Its always possibillity for
joining groups any time during
the year. I wont advice to come just for one week. A player will need time to
adapt after the flight and get used to the training process and a new place.
A minimum 2 weeks. To evaluate the
process of the traininig and understand
the whole idea you should plan your trip
for 1-3 months, then you can make right decision.
If you would like to go to academy with a kid, you should inform the
academy. Some academies dont approve parents in the
training process of the kid.
- Choose the country
The basic countries, where are all the players are going for
training, Europe (Spain, France, Italy) and USA, there are also plenty academies in Czech Republic, Emirates, Asia and Australia.
- Pay attention to accomidation and meals for the player
Unfortanately, not all academies can provide accomidation in
the academy. Most academies provide homestay (under 18 age) or apartments (from
18 age), or hotels. Situation with meal is more easier in all academies. They
have cafes and restaurants inside.
- What academy is right for you?
There are 2 types of academies:
- Popular big commercial academies
- Small unknown clubs
Unfortunately, many academies are
using the names of famous tennis players. No need to rely on a player name. Tennis bussiness is not
easy to create in a few years. Create a database, find an experienced coach, who can manage the
process of training, good fitness coach, as well as people who are associated
with tennis and understand a lot about tennis.
Some
small clubs can also compete with other great academies. Plus, a small number
of players and low prices for training, but the clubs have a problem with the
visa in the long term.
Choose
the academy with the experience more then one year.
Check the number of players in the program. The more
people, the less attention the player will get.
- Read the reviews
Try to get more information, who trains at the academy, if you play tournaments, you can meet coaches from the academies, watch how they comunicate with players, ask questions about their academy.
Reviews can help to get an idea of the academy, but dont believe them for 100%. Some reviews, that I read about academies, are far away from reality.
- Is it worth to go to the academy?
Yes, as the academy helps to understand the system of training, tennis player's lifestyle, each contry has different vision of teaching tennis.
