Many are aware that participation in sports can bring numerous physical benefits, yet few know that tennis has been specifically linked with better school performance, social development and lower suspension rates?
According to a 2013 USTA Serves special report entitled More Than a Sport, tennis’ positive correlation with high grades can be seen across family socioeconomic levels.
Physical Activity
Physical activity is an integral component of education, yet schools frequently neglect this essential aspect. With schools shifting toward academic achievement and away from traditional PE classes toward remedial and enrichment learning experiences, students may not get enough exercise. Regular physical activity improves focus and concentration while helping maintain a healthy weight and strengthening bones, muscles and cardiovascular health – not to mention improving immunity function reducing illness risk that could force missed school days and lower academic performance.
Exercise should be an integral component of daily life for kids – be it organized sports, outdoor adventures or even simple daily walks with friends. Exercise promotes good circulation which brings oxygen directly to the brain for peak performance; at the same time it spreads white blood cells throughout the body and strengthens its ability to protect against disease and infection.
Regular exercise increases the number of new nerve cells in the brain, helping it record information more effectively and improve memory retention. Furthermore, frequent, vigorous physical activity balances neurotransmitters for optimal learning environments.
Research has consistently demonstrated that students who are physically fit have higher grades and test scores than those who aren’t, as evidenced by higher grades and test scores for girls versus boys. Furthermore, researchers have discovered that socioeconomic status (SES) moderates this relationship by making high-SES schools less vulnerable to the negative academic impacts associated with low cardiorespiratory fitness levels; perhaps due to having limited resources at home making it harder for lower SES families to offset these negative effects of insufficient exercise.
Improved Self-Esteem
Tennis not only promotes physical health but it can help create a positive mindset and outlook on life for its participants, helping to reduce stress, anxiety, depression and promote a healthy coping mechanism. Furthermore, due to its intense focus requirements playing tennis promotes mindfulness by being in the moment.
Self-esteem can improve academic performance by helping students accept both their strengths and weaknesses more readily. This allows students to view mistakes as opportunities for growth rather than reflections of themselves; and allows them to see mistakes as learning experiences rather than reflections on themselves or an indication of self-worth. However, it’s important to distinguish between self-esteem and narcissism. Narcissism involves feelings of superiority, entitlement, self-centeredness that often come with poor relationships as well as less willingness to invest in improving themselves or themselves. Research suggests those exhibiting these tendencies are less willing than those willing to invest in self-improvement projects than those without such tendencies.
Tennis players often equate their self-worth with their results on the court, leading them to associate themselves with how well they’ve performed and becoming consumed with results on court. This can cause them to develop low self-confidence due to constant criticism from parents or coaches or simply not understanding what capabilities lie within themselves.
One way to combat this is through creative visualization exercises. To do this, imagine a large circle (experts suggest 3×2 feet), place yourself inside it, and think of all of the positive feelings associated with being confident, such as successfulness, power and happiness. Once these positive associations have reached their maximum extent, step outside while keeping those feelings within. Repeat this exercise regularly until you start seeing an increase in both confidence levels as well as overall physical ability.
Improved Self-Confidence
Academic success requires strong self-esteem in its students. Students with high self-worth tend to recognize their talents more quickly, rather than dwelling on perceived flaws and shortcomings; this helps overcome anxiety, break free of overthinking cycles, and fully explore potential.
Self-efficacy measures domain or task specific self-worth while self-esteem refers to one’s overall feeling of worth and sense of importance, reflecting their general view of themselves. Therefore, this global construct can be affected by both internal factors (like grades or praise ) as well as external ones such as criticism.
Research has demonstrated that academic engagement is often tied to students’ levels of both self-efficacy and motivation in learning environments. Furthermore, these factors appear to correlate with aspects of the student experience beyond learning environments themselves; specifically academic self-efficacy and motivation have been found to relate directly to a level of engagement during learning experiences.
Researchers performed a mixed-model regression analysis on a dataset of higher education students to ascertain the relationship between these variables and higher education enrollment. Analysis included multiple predictors, such as academic self-efficacy, grit and motivation to investigate their correlation with students’ level of academic engagement – measured in terms of credit points gained after 14 months of studying. This study’s results indicate that academic self-efficacy and grit are both predictive of how many credits a student earns; however, academic self-efficacy has more of an effect than motivation on students’ academic achievement. Note, however, that this study used an observational design, making strong causal conclusions impossible. As such, future research should examine these two variables using an experimental design with controlled conditions.
Improved Communication Skills
Academic success involves many elements, including interest in the subject area, willingness to learn and setting short and long term goals. Academic excellence also requires active learning with high levels of professionalism that both enable students to excel academically but enhances the educational experience overall.
Tennis is an activity that requires physical, mental, and strategic abilities. Played on a rectangular court equipped with a net, two players (singles) or four (doubles) take turns using stringed racquets to hit balls over the net into their opponent’s side of the court – ultimately scoring enough points to win sets and ultimately, matches.
Effective communication is the cornerstone of effective coaching, and tennis coaches are no different. Their ability to effectively communicate and provide constructive feedback is essential in leading students towards more holistic and autonomous approaches to learning.
CLA, unlike traditional directive coaching, provides players with a learning environment that naturally propels adaptive discovery and skills development. This is achieved by weaving thoughtful questioning throughout training to prompt players to uncover valuable insights from their experiences within different constraints – leading to deeper comprehension as well as self-sustaining, insightful learning throughout their tennis journey.
CLA coaches must be skilled communicators, moving effortlessly across coaching styles and meeting players where they are on a developmental, emotional, and motivational scale. This requires providing clear exercises with ample instructions in an upbeat and positive environment while encouraging players to push themselves toward progress.
Reduced Stress
Mental strength and resilience gained through playing tennis can translate into life in the classroom. Students who participate may experience less stress, allowing them to focus and concentrate better, ultimately leading to improved grades. Furthermore, those who engage in tennis tend to be more active within their communities and enroll at higher rates for college enrollment than peers.
Stress is one of the primary obstacles to academic success, causing students to be distracted by other issues and fail tests. Furthermore, too much stress can create a downward spiral where students feel overwhelmed and miss classes which further compounds the stress level and inhibit their academic performance.
Although this issue doesn’t affect all students equally, it can be a major source of distress for many. It is essential to take time for yourself and find ways to reduce stress; meditation, exercise and getting enough restful sleep may all be effective ways. Furthermore, healthy relationships and support systems should also help; there are resources on campus offering assistance should you feel overwhelmed.
USTA Serves recently released its national study entitled, “More Than a Sport”, that revealed adolescent tennis players tend to outperform other athletes and non-athletes in school, scoring higher on Monitoring the Future surveys, believing more strongly they will attend college than peers, having lower suspension rates as a whole, as well as consistently getting good grades, dedicating hours studying their educations, and being committed to their educations overall. The majority of adolescent tennis players got good grades, committed time studying to educations overall, with many spending hours studying their educations than their counterparts – something other athletes and non-athletes generally struggle with.