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Watch the below video by iTPA Certification Commissioner Dr. Don Chu on Myths Surrounding Young Athletes doing Plyometric Training. Current special on iTPA Plyometrics for Tennis DVD course: Through Sunday, August 4th, 2013, use coupon code Plyo and receive 20% off!
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 “A growing epidemic of preventable sports injuries is dismantling the hopes and dreams of young athletes at an early age.” – Dr. James Andrews and the STOP (Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention) Sport Injuries Organization.
As April is National Youth Sport Safety Month, it is important to evaluate the quality and quantity of training and competition that your young athletes are exposed to. Tennis is a sport that typically has a very high volume at a young age, and although tennis is an early initiation sport, it should be a late specialization sport. This means that to be highly successful (i.e. earning a college scholarship or dreams of playing professionally) in the sport an individual needs to be exposed to the sport at a young age – typically before 10 years of age. However, it is a late specialization sport. This means that it is important to learn the sport at a young age, but also participate in multiple sports to at least till 12-14 years of age. Over the past decade a number of studies in different sports have consistently shown that athletes that specialize in one sport from a very young age have a greater number of injuries. Some of the most recent research was presented at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) meeting in San Diego in April. The study is titled “Risks of Specialized Training and Growth in Young Athletes: A Prospective Clinical Cohort Study” and was led by Dr. Neeru Jayanthi (iTPA Certification Commission member) http://www.itpa-tennis.org/certification-commission.html. Below are some of the most relevant notes from the study :
Dr. Jayanthi offers the following tips to reduce the risk of injuries in young adults:
The iTPA Parent’s Guide To Basic Injury Prevention The iTPA has created a Parent’s Guide To Basic Injury Prevention Course which is specifically designed to help the tennis parent to appropriately work with their junior players to help reduce the chance of injury through appropriate prevention exercises. The course comes with over one hour of practical video instruction showing detailed injury prevention exercises and tutorials, in addition to an 85-page color Workbook. Please see the webpage for a detailed description and sample videos of the course http://www.itpa-tennis.org/parentcourse.html 
From everyone involved with the ITPA we wish all the mothers a very happy day; thanks for everything that you do. In respect of Mother’s Day, this post discusses one of the most integral pieces in the development of a competitive junior tennis player – the tennis parent! Without the support of caring and passionate parent or parents, it is very difficult for a young tennis athlete to succeed at the highest levels. This is shown over the past few decades both in the research literature and also anecdotally on the professional tours. The ITPA wants to help share the most relevant and practical information to help tennis parents find the information they need to help their children succeed on the exciting and challenging path of being a competitive junior tennis athlete. The Institute of Youth Sports at Michigan State University is one of the best research based educational sites available. The mission of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports is: “to provide leadership, scholarship and outreach that "transforms" the face of youth sports in ways that maximize the beneficial physical, psychological, and social effects of participation for children and youth while minimizing detrimental effects.” The Institute is directed by Dr. Dan Gould who has worked with the USOC, USTA and a number of other national sport governing bodies performing research and providing guidance on many areas related to sport psychology, parent education and youth sport. The Director of Coaching Education and Development is Dr. Larry Lauer, who is also on the advisory board of the ITPA and is a leader in the field of coaching education and parent education http://www.educ.msu.edu/ysi/forparents.htm Responsible Sport Parenting is a great site that is sponsored by Liberty Mutual insurance, and provides some very useful information and resources for parents of youth athletes in all sports http://responsiblesports.com/responsible_sport_parenting/default.aspx The USTA has performed extensive work over the past decade on parent education research and education for the parent of the junior tennis player. Much of this information is provided on their website. http://www.usta.com/About-USTA/Player-Development/Coaching-Education/110779_Role_Of_Parent/. The LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) has a good parent education website with some useful information http://www.lta.org.uk/players-parents/Supporting-your-child/ Some general blogs and other websites that provide good information for tennis parents The Tennis Parent Bible http://www.thetennisparentsbible.com/ Parenting Aces http://parentingaces.com/ Sport Parent Support http://sportparentsupport.com Zootennis www.zootennis.com 
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