By Andrew Codita
SPORTS. The solution to many parents’ concerns with what to do with their children in terms of providing them with a pathway long term to develop as a person and a skillset that sets them apart from others. On top of this, parents are constantly looking to answer the biggest question of all; “how do I make them better/successful?”
Now, sure, money can take you on a variety of pathways to help, but just like anything in life, investing time and money in the right places and at the right time is really tough to tell. Despite this constant battle, there is one thing that studies have shown to be true; a child that is involved in a variety of sports at a young age is more likely to be successful long term and most of all to be developed as a true ATHLETE.
The word and definition of an athlete will be an ongoing topic throughout this article. I will explain further why the definition of an athlete is different in each sport, but I will describe how, from a tennis player’s perspective, there is a different lens to look through at what it takes to develop someone both as an athlete and a tennis player.
According to Merriam Webster, an athlete is defined as “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina.” Now, from this, what if we take into consideration the skillsets both physically and mentally that it takes for one to be a true athlete, and to then have the ability to carry over these skills into just about any sport; only then we start to see the true definition of an athlete.
When you think of someone like Rafael Nadal, who is arguably one of the greatest tennis players and athletes ever; what if you were to ask yourself, “would he have been a great soccer player?”
Now, despite the fact that we all know he knows how to kick a soccer ball, the footwork that soccer brings onto the tennis court is obvious and extremely beneficial.
Numerous studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that multi-sport participation during childhood can be highly beneficial for athletic development. According to the National Federation of High School Sports, 88% of all NCAA athletes participated in more than one sport during their youth (NFHS, 2025). Furthermore, a study published in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation concluded that “an absence of variety associated with sports specialization can be associated with repetitive-load stress on the growing skeleton” (Hall et al. 2015).
Furthermore, an article on sports specialization at an early age by Sports Health mentioned “ there is no evidence that intense training and specialization before puberty are necessary to achieve elite status. Risks of early sports specialization include higher rates of injury, increased psychological stress, and quitting sports at a young age” (Jayanthi et al). Proper biomechanics and foundational skills in each sport are the most important things to start with, along with developing an enjoyment of the sport, but sometimes being too zoned in on one sport at a young age can in turn result in long term failures.
My name is Andrew Codita, I’ve played tennis for just about my whole life, including playing it at a national and international level in juniors, college, and the pro level while currently now coaching at all levels from juniors who are beginners, to intermediate and high performance junior players. Through participating in a variety of different sports/games throughout my life, this helped me enjoy tennis, and ultimately get better at it, but I must say that also from experience, I didn’t take the traditional pathway of playing basketball, football, or baseball, among other major sports to help me become a better tennis player. Despite the large amount of time I spent playing tennis, I did spend time as a kid playing soccer and took up swimming; both sports that helped me develop as an athlete overall, but I would like to touch on what helped me develop as a tennis player most of all.
The question I propose is what if instead of thinking of just football, soccer, basketball, and many other major sports and their benefits to a tennis players development, what if we looked at the racquet sports world itself and turned to pickleball, platform tennis, and padel as resources on how to further develop a junior tennis player?
These complementary racquet sports enhance reflexes, shot variety, court awareness, and adaptability—key attributes for a well-rounded tennis player that, despite some, can be developed in other major sports, the other complementary racquet sports are able to offer benefits to a junior tennis player’s development that other major sports cannot. When discussing the benefits to each sport, I will also touch on my personal experience with each, and the biggest take away from each for my own tennis game.
Benefits of Cross-Training in Racquet Sports for Junior Tennis Players:
Cross training, as mentioned earlier, is a general idea, is great, but there are a variety of reasons how cross training within just racquet sports alone is a great resource for aspiring junior tennis players. Some of the benefits include improved hand-eye coordination, which each sport allows players to improve reflexes to be prepared for the fast-paced nature of each sport, ultimately for tennis. Enhanced reaction time; each sport features in some capacity fast-paced exchanges, which ultimately forces players to be prepared for quick decision-making and the ability to react as a tennis player under pressure. Better net play and volleys; each sport forces athletes to try and take the net to be successful, a strategy that goes way back in tennis and still rewards those who do it very well, therefore making this something that helps the development of a junior tennis player. Increased footwork and agility; each sport, regardless the size of the area they are played on require different kinds of footwork that require a variety of abilities in being agile and explosive that on the tennis court are extremely beneficial in being better prepared to execute any shot on the court as effectively as possible, allowing them to be more aggressive in their play. Finally, the benefits in tactical awareness and court positioning; each sport allows athletes to be able to better understand the importance of proper positioning within the court at all times and being able to tactically be prepared to always try and put themselves in a position to execute shots on their terms, therefore, playing the kind of tennis they would like to.
Sport Specific Benefits:
Let’s dive into how each of these complementary racquet sports can help grow the next generation of great tennis players. When it comes to padel, this is a sport that carries many similarities to racquetball in the use of glass walls to add a 3-dimensional challenge to such a fun and exciting game by allowing the ball to hit off the ground and the wall as well before sent back over the net. Benefits of padel to a tennis player’s development could include that due to the enclosed court space, it forces players to develop patience and control within this space, but also that it may take longer to “end” points. Within padel, additional skills that it helps to develop are an understanding of the importance of using spin and angles to create opportunities to be offensive, while also the ability to be creative in how to construct points. Furthermore, taking the net in padel is of the utmost importance to win, therefore, this allows players to develop an ability to work on having soft hands at the net and improve their ability to execute drop volleys or any shots that require touch, which would carry over into their tennis game.
Upon discovering padel myself, I will say that from my experience with it, I had been able to develop my ability in between my last 2 seasons as a college tennis player to be able to see the importance of being close to the net and having quick hands. The more I played padel, the more I realized how the skillset, reaction time, and ability to move at the net, then when playing tennis, grew so much and took my non-existent doubles game, to a whole other level.
Now that we have discussed the importance of how padel could benefit a junior tennis player’s development, let’s touch on platform tennis. Now platform tennis is quite similar to padel in the sense that it is an enclosed space being played within, but the main differences are that the walls are made of chicken fencing, the balls is more dense, the paddle used is different, as well as the ball must be hit within a designated area similar to a small tennis court before it can even touch a wall. With all of this and the additional rules in mind, the benefits of platform tennis for a tennis player’s development is first and foremost the ability to build their patience as platform tennis is not a game of winners, but rather forcing your opponents to either break down mentally, or forcing them to make errors using spin and angles strategically. Building off of spin and angles, this is also one aspect of the sport that junior tennis players will learn playing this game, ultimately teaching them to be patient, while also creative. Now, despite how straightforward it may seem, there is a major need to be tactically one step ahead and always be thinking one shot ahead in terms of positioning in the court when executing shots, which again, is something that helps tenfold on the tennis court in terms of point construction. The biggest learning opportunity with platform tennis comes down to the ability to learn how to strategize and not think about only “hitting winners” which at times, a junior tennis player may think is the only solution.
My experience with platform tennis, despite being a more recent one, was very interesting. The learning curve that comes with the sport is huge, and if you ever thought that getting upset in tennis was bad and would force things to go downhill, platform tennis made it 10 times worse. The mental strength you develop playing this sport is unlike any other because not only is it the patience to play, but the ability to have patience and then at the same time stay in a 30+ ball rally and be constantly trying to pick apart the other team with different placements, spins, and angles only to feel you could HOPE they would eventually miss and that you forced an error.
When it comes to pickleball, this is probably one of the more well known sports to some, and despite that some may not call it a sport, there are still some skills that can help a junior tennis player develop. Pickleball features a lot of fast-paced exchanges, which in turn forces players to develop the ability to understand the importance of a small take back when at the net, and the importance of then having good reflexes and anticipation on top of this. Furthermore, the “dink,” which is one of the most important shots in pickleball, forces players to learn to have soft hands to ideally create the opportunity to then attack and be more aggressive, without risking that they give up the offensive position to their opponent. As we are all aware, pickleball is played on a rather small court as well, therefore, the importance of good positioning within the court and good court awareness is also just as important as anything to make sure you are prepared to either defend effectively, or also attack effectively as well.
When I had originally played pickleball, it was all about hard, hard, hard for me, and I quickly learned that this wasn’t the solution; I was playing like a tennis player as they would say. But as soon as I understood to be patient and use the correct strategy of working my way to the net, I then learned the ability to come to the net and then furthermore, this part of the game, being at the net, helped me develop better reflexes, anticipation and being at a high intensity while at the net to be prepared for fast exchanges, ultimately a skill that carried over into my tennis game as well.
Above all, in pickleball, padel, and platform tennis, each of these sports provide some sort of benefit to also provide students the ability to learn that despite maybe having some weaker abilities such as maybe being not as tall, this provides the opportunity to use the strategies in each game to actually take what was a disadvantage, and turn it into an advantage. The next question remains to be, how do we implement this cross training effectively?
Implementing Racquet Sport Cross-Training:
When we look to answer this question, the answer can be simplified. Initially look to integrate each sport somehow into each week, and even playing either just one, or all within a week, to not only reap the benefits, but also enjoy some time playing another game with maybe friends or family. Within the time you spend playing, look to occasionally or even each time, do drills and do some match play to work on all the beneficial skills while staying competitive. Building off the idea of competition, use the opportunity of playing different racquet sports as an opportunity to improve skills that help you as a tennis player, but by still remaining competitive. While playing these sports, look to make sure you spend time focusing on the proper footwork involved with each sport, to also have this over time carry over into your tennis game, as this was a major benefit mentioned before.
Cross-training as a whole is a great idea, and definitely one that will reap many benefits to just about any junior tennis player in particular. But taking the time to understand and expose junior tennis players to other racquet sports instead of just major sports like basketball, baseball, football, etc., allows them to grow as a tennis player as much as an athlete. By exposing young athletes to varied playing conditions, techniques, and strategic insights, they gain an edge that makes them more adaptable, skillful, and confident on the tennis court. Integrating these sports into training regimens not only diversifies skill sets but also keeps the learning process engaging and most importantly, fun, which therefore forces juniors at a young age to develop a lifelong love for their sport, while being developed into great athletes who are also respectful, intelligent, resilient, and forward thinkers.
References:
Jayanthi N, Pinkham C, Dugas L, Patrick B, Labella C. Sports specialization in young athletes: evidence-based recommendations. Sports Health. 2013 May;5(3):251-7. doi: 10.1177/1941738112464626. PMID: 24427397; PMCID: PMC3658407.
Hall, R., Foss, K. B., Hewett, T. E., & Myer, G. D. (2015, February 1). Sport specialization’s association with an increased risk of developing anterior knee pain in adolescent female athletes. Human Kinetics. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jsr/24/1/article-p31.xml
NFHS National Coaches of the year make positive impact on lives of student-athletes. (2025, February 19). https://www.nfhs.org/articles/nfhs-national-coaches-of-the-year-make-positive-impact-on-lives-of-student-athletes/
“Athlete.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/athlete. Accessed 28 Feb. 2025.
