June in Sarasota means one thing for tennis families: summer camp season. If your kid just started at a local camp—or you’re considering one—you’re probably asking the right question: Is this worth it?
As a USPTA Elite Professional and founder of SRQ Tennis here in Sarasota, I’ve spent 30+ years watching parents make this decision. I’ve also run a lot of camps. And I’ve seen the full spectrum: camps that build real skills and confidence, and camps that are expensive babysitting with a ball machine.
So here’s what to actually look for during the first week of camp.
Max class size matters more than you think
Walk into the first day. Count the kids on court during a teaching block. If there are 8, 10, or more kids per coach, your child is not getting meaningful feedback. They’re waiting in line.
Real instruction happens when a coach can watch your kid hit 10 consecutive forehands, see where the contact point is breaking down, and correct it while the pattern is fresh. That takes space. That takes time. That takes small groups.
At SRQ Tennis summer camp, we cap groups at 6 kids per coach. Not because it looks nice in the brochure—because that’s the class size where a coach can actually teach. Smaller max class size is the single best predictor of whether your child will improve.
Check the first few days. If the ratio is high, you already know the program’s priorities.
Is it live ball or fed ball?
Here’s the difference that nobody talks about until it matters.
Fed ball: Coach stands by the net, hitting balls to your kid. Predictable. Timed. The same rhythm every time.
Live ball: Your kid rallies with other kids, with the coach, or in small-sided games. Unpredictable. Real rhythm. Game-like conditions.
This is so important I built it into our coaching philosophy: Live Ball Is the Method. It’s one of our core principles because fed balls teach a lie. In a match, nobody feeds you balls from the baseline at the exact same pace and location. Your kid needs to practice the skill of reacting to different rhythms, different spins, different depths.
A quality summer camp rotates between drilling (to build technique) and live-play (to apply it). If the entire day is one or the other, the program is incomplete.
Ask the director directly: How much of the day is live rally work vs. fed-ball drills?
Accuracy before speed
Watch what the coaches emphasize when a kid hits the ball hard but wide.
Bad camp response: “Nice swing! Keep swinging hard.” Good camp response: “I like the effort. Let’s hit the same swing 8 out of 10 times to the target box first. Then we add pace.”
This comes back to Accuracy Inside Representative Conditions, another core principle. A junior who can place the ball consistently to a target in a live drill under time pressure is a junior who will have options in a match. A junior who can only hit the ball hard and hope isn’t reliable yet.
Watch for coaches who prioritize placement and decision-making before speed. That’s the sign of a program built around skill development, not highlight reels.
Does the coach know the kid’s game after day two?
By the second or third day, a good coach knows:
- Where your kid is breaking down (forehand contact point? backhand slice? net approach?)
- What the kid’s competitive personality is (aggressive? cautious? frustrated easily?)
- What to work on that week
A mediocre camp treats every kid the same. A quality camp differentiates.
Ask your kid at pickup: “Did Coach [name] tell you what to work on?” If they can’t answer, the coach isn’t tracking individual progress.
The Between-Point Routine matters in camp
Watch the sidelines during a live-play block. Are kids standing there thinking about what went wrong? Are they fidgeting or frustrated?
Or are they following a consistent routine: deep breath, look at the next point, reset?
We call this the Between-Point Routine (BPR), and it’s foundational. Kids who learn to manage frustration and reset between points build resilience. Kids who dwell on mistakes amplify anxiety.
A program that teaches and enforces a BPR is building mental toughness alongside technique. That’s evidence-based coaching.
Real talk: Some camps are really expensive babysitting
If your kid spends the day hitting off a ball machine, if the class sizes are oversized, if nobody can tell you what your kid is working on—you’re paying for supervision and air conditioning, not instruction.
That’s not inherently bad (sometimes that’s what you need), but it’s not development. Be honest about what you’re buying.
A quality summer camp—small groups, live ball, individualized feedback, and intentional progression—will cost more. It should. You’re paying for expertise, experience, and the infrastructure to teach.
What you should see by week two
- Your kid can name the drill they worked on
- They can describe one thing they’re “trying to do better” this week
- They’re excited (or at least engaged) to go back
- The coach can tell you what the kid is working on and why
Those four things are the signal. If you’re seeing them, the camp is doing its job.
Choose based on evidence, not convenience
Sarasota has a lot of tennis options in the summer. Not all programs are equal. The difference isn’t always obvious on day one, but by the end of week one, you’ll know.
Pick a camp where the coaches care about building accuracy over chasing speed, where live ball is the priority, where class sizes stay small, and where your kid leaves knowing what they worked on.
That’s how development happens in the summer, and that’s how your kid comes back in the fall ready for the next level.
Michael Boothman is a USPTA Elite Professional with 30+ years of coaching experience and founder of SRQ Tennis in Sarasota. You can reach him at 941-239-4703 or michael@srq.tennis. Learn more about SRQ Tennis summer programs at srq.tennis.
For more on evidence-based junior tennis development, see the USTA’s resource center on youth training.