When I was contacted about the USTA and their great Jr. Team Tennis programs I have to admit that I was absolutely shocked that until that moment I had no idea there was a national team tennis association for children! My hubby played tennis all through high school and he loved it.
May is tennis month and I’m so happy to introduce you to Jr. Team Tennis! If the cost of most sports has been keeping you from putting your children in sports, tennis may be the perfect fit for your family. When compared to the cost of other sports with equipment, tennis is about 50% less expensive because all that’s needed is a racquet and a ball.
Children ages 6 to 18 can participate in Jr. Team Tennis through USTA. Want to find a team in your area, make sure you visit their website for all that information. If you find that there isn’t a team in your area, you can even find out how to start one! They have all the information you need right there to get your kids playing and learning!
More than 80,000 kids participated in Jr. Team Tennis in 2008, and tennis is currently the fastest growing traditional sport in the country with 27 million participants this year (according to the 2008 USTA/Tennis Industry Association study conducted by the Taylor Research Group).
Their site also offers great information for your family to start playing! When they sent us a racquet and balls for our ENTIRE family (yes, including the three year old twins), I was thrilled and thought it was very fun that my husband was also very excited. First chance we got we headed out to the nearest park with some great tennis courts and the kids loved it.

Our 9 and 10 year olds played with the 5 year old on one court and our 13 year old played against dad (and did shockingly well I might add) on the other court. They are all BEGGING me to go again…”but can we find someone to watch the little kids next time please mom”. They don’t want to be limited to just a half hour of play time.

Since my husband has so much experience in the tecniques of playing tennis, he’s the perfect teacher for all the boys and they are picking it up very fast, but even if you aren’t well versed in the ins and outs of tennis, USTA’s Jr. Team Tennis website offers great information for you to read through and begin to teach your children.
It is so fun to just keep our huge box of tennis stuff ready in the back of our Yukon so that anytime it’s nice we can just pack everyone up and hop on over to the tennis courts that are easily accessible at the park in town. When they say that it’s affordable I wholeheartedly agree.
And Yes, the photo to the left IS what it looks like to have racquets for a family of 8 (Hubby’s racquet isn’t pictured here though – we still have to get it out of storage).
Want to get started too? Well, I’m thrilled to tell you that the USTA is offering one VERY lucky commenter the opportunity to win tennis racquets and balls for your family!
To enter, just go to their Jr. Team Tennis Website and take a look around…maybe even check to see if there are any teams in your area. Then when you’re done, come back here and leave a comment telling us the ages of the little “would-be” tennis players in your home, or if there’s a team near you.
To gain extra entries remember to tweet, stumble, kirtsy or post and leave a comment for each extra thing you do. You can read about all the extra entry opportunities here as well as my giveaway policies.
This giveaway will end on June 4th and is void where prohibited. Open for US entries.