Our very popular term time tennis courses are a fun and inspiring way for kids to develop their individual tennis skills whilst benefitting from the social and group dynamics. Combining skills training, team games and mini tournament, these action-packed tennis courses are expertly delivered by our specialist children’s coaches. If you are interested in booking a course, please email reception@ucsactive.org.uk or call 020 7433 2127.

Our Tennis coaches are LTA accredited and follow the LTA Mini Tennis pathway to make tennis fun, structured, and age-appropriate. Children move through the stages based on age, ability, and confidence, with guidance from our coaches.

To ensure our youngest players get the best, safest, and most enjoyable experience possible, we welcome and encourage on-court parental support. This helps us maintain a great coaching ratio and ensures children feel secure and engaged in what might be their first sporting experience.

We ask that one adult from your family is prepared to step onto the court with your child for:  

Safety & Supervision - Stay within arm’s reach of your child at all times, especially when moving between activities. Act as a safety barrier to ensure your child doesn’t run off or get too close to other children’s swings.

Engagement & Focus - Help your child stay focused on the task. If they drift or get distracted, gently guide them back to the coach’s instructions without doing the activity for them.

Ball Retrieval - Be their personal ball retriever. When a ball goes astray, quickly fetch it and return it so they can continue practicing the task.

Encouragement - Offer positive, enthusiastic praise. Celebrate effort more than success (e.g., “Great effort running for that ball!” rather than “Perfect shot!”).

Blue Stage (Ages 3–5)

• Focus: Fun movement, basic ball skills and gentle intro to tennis
• What they’ll learn:
  • Running, jumping, catching and simple racket skills
  • Learning to hit the ball and start rallies
  • Confidence and coordination development

Red Stage (Ages 5–8)

• Focus: Learning to rally, serve, and score on small courts
• What they’ll learn:
  • Serve into the service box
  • Rally back and forth up to 4 shots
  • Understand basic scoring
  • Agility, balance, and footwork for court movement

Orange Stage (Ages 8–9)

• Focus: Bigger court, faster balls, more tactics
• What they’ll learn:
  • Build on red stage skills
  • Serve, rally, and score on a larger court
  • Try new techniques and tactical play
  • Adapt to a slightly faster game

Green Stage (Ages from 9 to 14) → Transition to Yellow Ball

• Focus: Preparing for full tennis
• What they’ll learn:
  • Rally from the baseline using forehands and backhands
  • Improve serves, volleys, and point play
  • Develop tactical awareness and court coverage
  • Build confidence for full yellow ball tennis

How We Track Progress

• Mid-Term Reviews: Coaches provide bullet-point feedback after in-house match play.
• End-of-Term Reviews: Celebrate progress, set next goals, and help parents understand if their child is ready for the next stage.
• In-House Tournaments: Friendly match play mid- and end-of-term - a fun way to practise skills and get the whole family involved.