Tennis is often called a lifetime sport, and for good reason. It’s one your child will love in the years to come. Unlike many other sports, it offers skills your child will use not only in the game, but also in life. Wondering what skills kids playing tennis gain? Take a look at five of the most important.

Hand Eye Coordination: Your body’s ability to process information through your eyes and direct that information back to your hands is absolutely key in everyday tasks like tying your shoes, and tennis actually helps teach that skill. It teaches the skills necessary to train the brain to react quickly when that information comes in and help the eyes better respond to what they see.

Flexibility: This is essentially the range of movement you get around any given joint, and tennis offers it to kids in two different ways. First, it means your children will be stretching before they reach the court for a match and that can help. When they’re on the court, though, they engage in dynamic stretching throughout a match, which also helps develop that range of movement.

Balance: You have good balance if you’re able to control your body’s position in a given space, and it’s essential in tennis. If you’re not in the right spot, you won’t be able to hit that ball well, and many of your child’s initial drills will focus on balance and the footwork necessary to get into the right spot to hit that ball.

Agility: Tennis demands the ability to quickly change body position and move in an opposite direction, and that defines agility. Because of the way you move during a match – side to side, up and back, and diagonally – you force your body to learn to adapt fast and get in position. Kids become more agile the moment they start really playing on the court.

Self-Discipline: Team sports give kids room to rely on others. With tennis, though, it’s only the child on the court, and they’re the only ones who can determine the outcome of a game. If your child wants to perform well, he or she will have to work hard during practice and during a match, and that can help to develop the self-discipline skills necessary in all aspects of life.

Private tennis classes are a great way to help your child develop many skills, some that will carry over from tennis to life. Enroll your child today.