With highly visible and inspiring role models like Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, and Venus and Serena Williams, it’s not difficult to see why many children and adolescents would be drawn to the sport of tennis. As kids deal with and overcome the challenges to coordination, fitness and self-reliance inherent in the sport, those experiences translate to other aspects of their lives, like better grades and behavior patterns. Recently, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA), using data culled from Monitoring the Future (MTF) nationwide surveys, took a closer look at trends among youth tennis participants. We share a selection of the results below.
8: Percentage of U.S. adolescent males who participated in a tennis program in their community or school within the past 12 months.
9: Percentage of U.S. adolescent females who participated in a tennis program in their community or school within the past 12 months.
53: Percentage of youth tennis participants who are female.
47: Percentage of youth tennis participants who are male.
4–5: Number of school- or community-based sports teams in which adolescent male tennis players reported participating.
3–4: Number of school- or community-based sports teams in which adolescent female tennis players reported participating.
48: Percentage of youth tennis players who reported achieving an “A” average grade in school.
81: Percentage of youth tennis players who believe they “definitely will” attend college.
75: Percentage of youth tennis players who believe they will graduate from a four-year university.
82: Percentage of adolescent tennis participants who reported participating at least a few times a year in a community event or volunteer work.