Group Vs Private Tennis Lessons: Which should I choose?

Hi, my name is Andy Franco, I am the owner of Franco Racquet Sports and I am sharing some tips today for first time students and parents of first time students.

About 3 months ago I talked to a parent he told me he wanted to enroll his child in lessons once a week with the hopes he would be competing in tournaments soon. Being in tennis for so long I realized this was not realistic and walked through what he could expect.

After that conversation I thought I would share some tips that should help you decide if you should enroll a student in a private or group lesson.

What is your goal/purpose:

Group lessons are good from a social aspect, you can make friends, collaborate, compete and obtain love for the game of tennis. While private lessons are tailored to the student and focuses on working on particular challenges.

If you a player on a mission like getting into the high school team, with the student being on 7th grade, you probably want to do a couple of private lessons a week, supplemented by some group lessons or tournament play, with private lessons being priority number one.

What’s your budget?

Group lessons go anywhere from $12 to $45 per hour, depending on what part of the country you are in, the quality of the coach and the type of court you are playing in (indoor VS outdoor).

On the other hand private lessons go anywhere from $50 to $150 per hour depending on the same factors as described above for group lessons.

So the price difference can be big and can make a difference on what you decide to go with.

What’s your availability?

Group lessons have set schedules set by the academy or program. On the other hand usually private coaches may have more flexibility and accommodate to your schedule. Again this depends very much on the tennis pro (Coach).

Examples

If I was going to enroll my 6 year old daughter in lessons, I would enroll her in group lessons, because she will probably meet other students and enjoy that part. With a good coach she will also probably get the foundations. If I see an interest and commitment for 4 or 5 months, I would start considering private lessons.

If my daughter was in 6th grade, and looking at making the high school team down the road I would do privates and complement with private lessons. Just because you already have a defined goal and a time constraints.

At the end of the day, you should get much more improvement with a private lesson than a group lesson, especially if you have specific time constraints goals, in those cases I would go with private lessons. If I want an introduction to the sport I would go with group lessons. From there depending on our commitment you can choose anything in between, for example groups lessons a number of days a week, a mix of private and group lessons, or a number of private lessons per week.

Last note

Remember tennis is a highly technical sport just as golf, learning and being proficient at it will take more time than other sports, it requires being consistent, persistent and patient. Also, the coach you choose will also determine how fast a student advances, so choose wisely.

Finally, the student gets out of it what they put into it. Focused students and students that practice outside lessons improve much quicker.