PARENTAL BEHAVIORS

The purpose of this paper was to gain insight into the significance of early tennis experiences for subsequent levels of tennis proficiency. This retrospective study examined the environmental influences, (1) age when first learning the game, (2) family support, and (3) initial learning experiences, and related those findings to the reported skill level of the tennis players who participated in the study. The instrument used was a self report questionnaire validated by tennis experts in the field. The sample comprised adults and junior tennis players from Erie County, New York. A random mailing to varsity high school players within the county was conducted and players from indoor tennis clubs were randomly selected to participate. Additionally, in an effort to obtain a representation of highly skilled amateurs, a national survey was conducted. All of the six research questions developed for the study yielded significant results. Based on the findings, generalizations can be made about the backgrounds of the subjects who participated in the study. (1) The better players reported more parent involvement in their tennis education than the less proficient participants. (2) The age when the participants began playing tennis was inversely related to their reported skill level. (3) The more skilled tennis players indicated they initially received a greater proportion of formal instruction than unstructured play as beginners than the less proficient portion of the sample. (4) Male tennis players reported being influenced more by both their mothers and fathers than the female participants in the study. (5) More skillful players reported receiving more private instruction than the less skillful players. (6) There was a positive relation between the participants' skill level and the influence of their first coach outside the family. The participants in the investigation also reported a relation between skill level and how they valued the game as a leisure activity. That is, the more skillful players in the sample indicated they enjoyed the game to a greater degree than the less skillful participants in the study. Overall findings indicated a variety of interacting environmental factors that could have affected the participants' level of play. Most noteworthy included: parental involvement, early exposure to the sport, and receiving private instruction when first learning to play tennis.

Eighteen world class U.S. tennis players who were ranked in the top ten men or women players in the world between 1968 and 1979 and their parents constituted the sample. Interviews were conducted to identify what parents, teachers and others did to encourage and promote this extreme talent development. Results of a qualitative analysis showed: (1) The parents played a major role. The families highly valued and emphasized athletics, usually tennis. Their parents valued hard work and doing well, but they also valued winning. They invested a great deal of time in their child's tennis including driving them to lessons, practice and tournaments, finding the best coaches, and spending hours practicing tennis with their child. (2) Excellent coaching characterized the development of exceptional tennis talent although the characteristics of a good coach and good coaching changed over time. (3) There did not appear to be any particular physical characteristics that these tennis players had in common. There were certain personal characteristics: they valued hard work and spent many hours practicing tennis, they were highly motivated and very competitive.

A quantitative analysis compared the level of competitiveness across four talent fields: tennis, swimming, piano and mathematics. The findings were: (1) The swimmers and the tennis players were highly competitive. There was variation of the pianists and mathematicians but most were not competitive. (2) There was a high level of correspondence between the parents' and the talented individuals' competitiveness and the coaches' and individuals' competitiveness, e.g., when parents were competitive, so was their child. The major implication of this research is the importance of a high level of commitment needed to reach the highest levels of achievement in tennis. Regardless of initial talent, it was only after years of hard work and support and direction from parents, coaches and others, that these talented individuals reached the highest levels of accomplishment.