Theodore Roosevelt once said, ““Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.” He’s referring to the idea of mental toughness, and nowhere is it needed more than on the tennis court. Junior players often have a tough time with this aspect of the game. After all, it’s certainly not genetic. Some kids can be pushed hard to achieve greatness on the court. Others, though, need a certain amount of coddling or the disappointment, failure, and fear will become overwhelming. What can parents and coaches do to help increase a child’s confidence and create mental toughness? These tips can help.

1) Let Your Child Struggle: You want your child to face defeat and failure in some cases. The best lessons are learned through the struggle, and as long as it’s handled well, that struggle is good for kids. They certainly need some confidence, so allowing them to play matches they easily win will help in some situations, but allowing them to play matches they won’t easily win is just as important.

2) Praise Early and Often: Praise your child routinely, but make sure it’s the right kind of praise. You want to praise his or her effort, not tell your child what a great player s/he is on the court. Highlight the extra hours of training, the work he or she is doing routinely, or a certain new strategy. Simple praise will never pay off. Effective praise based on effort will always matter to a player.

3) Demanding: Your child won’t like this strategy from the outset, but the more demanding you are, the more likely your child is to grow much tougher. Push the hours of training and the tournaments. Eventually he or she will realize that having a strict coach or parent in charge helped to create the drive to succeed.

Becoming mentally tougher isn’t an easy task, but it’s a necessary one if your young tennis player is going to find success on the court as things become more difficult in the long run.