We have been proud members of David Lloyd Clubs for a quite a while now and the kids still absolutely love it!

We haven’t been able to get over as much as we’d like lately due to a number of things but we recently enjoyed a family visit to the tennis court. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some cool photographs and to write a blog about the benefits of playing tennis.

Tennis is one of the best sports to help your child develop valuable life skills such as concentration, respect, teamwork and fair play. My kids have always had pretty good hand eye coordination and tennis over the past few months has only improved this.

I’m not going to lie, it was difficult to get the kids playing at first. Rallies would only last a few seconds and they could sometimes lose interest. I’d throw the ball over the net for them to hit and then if they got it back I’d return it. Adam and I can have a decent rally these days but Emma is still only 7 and sometimes struggles. They’re both really keen though and they enjoy it, I think that’s half the battle with any form of exercise, enjoyment.

Here are some health benefits to playing tennis:

• Increasing aerobic capacities
• Lowering resting heart rate and blood pressure
• Improving metabolic function
• Increasing bone density
• Lowering body fat
• Improving muscle tone, strength and flexibility
• Increasing reaction times

Playing tennis is also a great way to get out the house and meet new people and spend time with friends. We see lots of friends playing tennis at David Lloyd Clubs and they’re of all ages. Tennis is a relatively low impact sport therefore reducing the risk of injury. All the running around and hitting of the ball, it’s a great way to reduce stress too!

Foot fault!

Just the other day, a guy came over to me and said “try this tennis ball.” It was lighter and softer and I can only assume it was some kind of training ball. The kids found it much easier to hit it. We’ve invested is some more of these tennis balls and can’t wait to try them out again.

When the kids can hit the ball back, it really helps with their confidence. We take a bag full of balls so we can keep the momentum going if one of us misses. The child that isn’t playing is then ball girl or boy. It’s a family thing! The most important lesson I’ve learnt is to keep it fun.

I was reading on the David Lloyd blog the other day, that Judy Murray is now on the board as a new coach consultant. She shared some of her top tennis tips for kids and they included balance, coordination, agility, passing and catching. If you’d like to read more on these tips, click the link above.

Thanks for reading and good luck!