2013 Year in Review: Tennis Racquets for Kids

Tennis is a great activity for families and individuals. It is a great way to bring people of all skill levels together. You need a net,balls and a tennis racquet. Sounds simple, but it's not. Tennis racquets are expensive, and indoor court rates are prohibitive. It would be great if the weather was perfect throughout the year for all of us. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen and we can't always take advantage of the opportunity to use outdoor public courts. Some of us learned to play on park courts with metal nets. There was no topspin or slicing strategy, the ball changed direction based on the cracks in the asphalt. Yet we continued to love the game. Tennis Racquets for Kids Inc., is dedicated to providing all children with the opportunity to experience the game we love. Our success would not be possible without the help of individuals across the country who share this love. We receive racquets from people, especially children, from all parts of the United States. Sometimes it's a single racquet or a few racquets; sometimes a note is included saying how much joy the racquets brought their owners and how meaningful it is to them to continue channeling the racquets into the hands of other children. All tennis racquet donations are greatly appreciated. We are living in challenging economic times and what may be a weathered racquet to someone, is an opportunity for a child to start a tennis experience. We are a non-profit organization that is also challenged by the same economic times, and have lost our stringers who donated their time and materials to rejunvenate the donated racquets. Used Babolat, Wilson, Head, Prince, and Yonex,racquets represent a way to experience the game of tennis. Tennis Racquets for Kids is supported by regular people who play and enjoy the game and want to give others that same opportunity. Our sole focus is helping those less fortunate children experience the game of tennis. Throughout 2013, we have had many children stand up and want to make a difference by collecting tennis racquets as part of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah,church, or school projects to help others. S.R.collected over 50 racquets as a part of his Bar Mitzvah and C.W. collected approximately 275 racquets as part of her Bat Mitzvah project. J.F.,an avid junior tennis player, hosted a drive in New York City and drove a carload of tennis racquets out to our office in Long Island.These are a few examples of the generosity we have experienced. We survive with the help of the individual who will donate a single racquet to us. We received a financial donation from a high school tennis team in St. Louis which went to help defer our costs of re-gripping,re-stringing, and postage. This year we supported various schools that wanted to start tennis programs but the children could not afford to buy racquets. We supported after school programs including those dedicated to fighting childhood by promoting tennis as a weight- loss activity. Other programs supported were located in California, Michigan, Arizona, and New York. Various individual families also received racquets. Our goal remains helping less fortunate children experience the game of tennis. We look forward to the New Year and ask for your continued support to donate for the love of the game!

Practice Makes Perfect, Preparation Makes Opportunities

  In this day and age, talent as natural ability and work ethic translated as tons of practice are absolutely necessary ingredients. Close behind that, are motivating factors which could be parents or coaches, or maybe just internal drive. Financial support is necessary, because lets face it, lessons, court time, travel, tournament entries, and equipment all cost money that kids don't make themselves.   Most players are on board with the above essentials and only few rise to the occasion.

This is where preparation makes the difference. What you ate, how fit you are off the court, how strong you are and how flexible. Like all other sports, tennis is no exception, you have to swing the racquet for hours a day but then you have to hit the gym, run some miles, do your stretches and try to fuel your body with the right things. Tennis Racquets for Kids believes in the essentials and emphasizes the importance of fitness for tennis and good health.

Stretching: 

Before you play it is recommended by experts to do dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching. If static means staying in one place then dynamic is the opposite, it is stretching while moving. The old way, of holding one stretch for a few seconds actually reduces performance of the muscles because it doesn't fire up the muscles rather relaxes them and for a sprint and stop sport like tennis, that is bad. So jogging a few laps and proceeding with walking up and down lunges and high knees across the court and torso twists is more the way to go. Once you're done playing, then it is a good idea to sit down and do some still stretches holding each for 30 seconds or so to cool down the muscles that were just tensing for the past hour or so.

Strength: 

You have to be strong in tennis, even if you're only ten. While it is a good idea to hire a personal trainer,this is not practical and most people cannot afford one. You can pay a visit to a bookstore to evaluate the many good tennis exercise books on the shelves that will give you the same exercises a trainer will. Kids should work out with supervision.  The workout can take place anywhere; in the house, apartment or backyard, but it has to be done correctly. Strength building exercises should be done twice a week. Things like lunges, planks, squats, abs and push ups. You don't even need weights, your body weight and a medicine ball with a rubber band will do most of the time. These exercises should be done in several sets and made up of several repetitions. 

What happens when you play and you're weak? Your muscles get tired sooner, you get out of breath, the lactic acid crawls into the muscles and you stop bending your knees, you stop accelerating your arm on your serve and you are no longer capable of running down the balls and keeping it in play long enough to win points. Strong muscles also help prevent injuries and give you the force you need to create power and play at a higher level.  

Speaking of injury prevention, there are injury prevention exercises that should be done before practice with a rubber band. These will ensure that the correct muscles are warmed up with several sets of restraining repetitions. If you are not sure what these terms mean, you can always ask a coach or look it up online, there is a ton of material written on the subject.<

Fitness: 

All sports require off court fitness to make you better, faster,and stronger. This is necessary if you want to compete at a high level. Some people play tennis to get fit. These exercises are good for all children and can help fight fight childhood obesity if done on a regular basis.

  If you want to be a competitive tennis player good fitness is essential. It is necessary to help grind out those long matches. You need to do long distance running of several miles a week and short timed miles once a week. Long distance running is not very good for tennis players because it builds the long lean muscles they really do not use. Long distance once a week is for stamina, the muscles you want to build are quick fire sprinting ones. Biking is also a great way to get those muscles working. Interval workouts are the best for tennis, where you sprint for 30 seconds then jog for 3 minutes. In tennis its also important to be able to move in all four directions, up back and side to side. Shuffle sprints are very important as well. Last but not least recommendation is plyometrics. There is nothing better for tennis. That involves a little bit of jump rope and a lot of jumping and sprinting, hurdles and boxes. Don't forget to give yourself days off and alternate the workouts to give yourself time to regroup and prevent injuries!

Food:

Athletes need to eat, they need energy and they need muscles. Unless you're playing defense on a football team, you need to be light enough to fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee too. Which means eating right. Athletes need carbs but need to limit the fat, because the fat won't let the body use the carbs. If you watched the Olympics and saw the special on what Michael Phelps eats, you would be shocked, but athletes like that burn more calories than we can imagine. It is good to eat a while before you play and pack snacks if you plan on playing a while. Good to go for lean meat protein and low fat foods. Hydrating is perhaps the most important, since tennis is not only physical but also playing in hot weather typically. 16-20 ounces of Propel throughout an hour sounds ok. Visits to Starbucks for coffee are not at the top of the list as caffeine is a stimulant and can make you jittery. Fruits and nuts make perfect snacks while you play. After you finish with your tennis for the day, eat within 30 minutes, it will fit in the metabolic schedule your body maintains to get you refueled and ready to play again.

This little intro to preparation sounds like a lot, but really everything listed are just small elements of the whole picture of competitive tennis. Its hard to find the time to do everything because of the hectic lives we lead, kids lead, but at the same time its a very rewarding thing, as all these things are not work in a cubicle or lessons at schoold behind the desk. These activities should be fun and benefit the overall health of your body. These things are for your tennis, but even more so for you. So think of it as you time and don't be lazy.

Check out this really great fitness resource http://fitspott.typepad.com/fitspott/

Visit Tennis Racquets For Kids to help children play tennis.

Childhood Obesity & The Metabolic Syndrome

One third of children in the United States is either overweight or obese. More teenagers are now being referred to surgeons for bariatric or obesity surgery. Something needs to be done to stop the cycle of continous weight gain in children. Obesity increases the risk for Type II, or non-insulin dependent Diabetes Mellitus. The number of children being diagnosed with this form of diabetes is increasing each year. Children today are found to have poor nutritional habits and higher cholesterol levels. Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes,and as these children become young adults, they could develop the Metabolic Syndrome. The Metabolic Syndrome is a group of findings that puts people at a higher risk for heart attacks and strokes. One of the characteristics of the Metabolic Syndrome is waist size. If you are a male and you have a waist size of 40 inches, or a women and have a waist size of 35 inches, you are at risk for the Metabolic Syndrome.

There are many reasons for this increase in childhood obesity. Poor food choices, the lack of knowledge regarding nutrition, lack of exercise, school burden and parent over scheduling. Gone are the days of coming home from school, going to the local park,and still having enough time to complete homework. Now, too much time is spent with video games, computers, and homework. Texting is a sport onto itself, but unfortunately does not burn enough calories. While schools are now first addressing healthier lunch items, they must also address the exorbitant amount of homework and projects given to children in middle school and high school. These are the ages where children are found to be overweight and obese. In the past, 10 math problems would suffice, now 25 problems are needed. Add to that, laboratory reports, and assignments requiring multiple chapters to be read and outlined in their other subjects, as well as, a testing and quiz schedule every two weeks. There is certainly no time for exercise, and a limited amount of time to sleep. Schools need to acknowledge this problem and limit the amount of homework. On the show, " Everybody Loves Raymond", Raymond had a feeble attempt to speak to his child's grade school teacher about the excessive homework, but he was intimidated. Was this another "show about nothing", or was it really true to life?

Parents need to take a more active role in educating their children about healthier food, and offer vegetables and fruits in the home. Fast food needs to be removed as a regular meal choice. Smaller portions and healthy snacks needs to be emphasized. Sodas and high calorie sport drinks should be very limited in the diet. Use your child's pediatrician as a resource.



When kids have down time, they turn to their computers, video games, and phones, not to exercise. Parents have to reinforce the benefits of regular exercise for their children.Exercise can be as simple as walking, going to a park, or bicycling. Given the time constraints on today's children, 40 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise four times a week, is a minimal recommendation. Any activity with movement, such as dancing, walking, basketball,soccer, hitting a tennis ball or paddle ball against the wall are all acceptable. The key word is continuous movement, and multiple times a week.

We are embarking on a new year, 2009, and now is the time to fight the growing epidemic of childhood obesity,and diabetes. This will lead to a growth in heart disease. This path is totally preventable with lifestyle modification and exercise. Take the time to help our children help themselves stay healthy. It is a team effort. The challenge is ours.

If you have any questions regarding the charity, or how to donate tennis racquets, visit TennisRacquetsforKids.org