OUR METHOD TENNIS

Le Petit Tennis is "The Art of Teaching Tennis with Storytelling!"

At Le Petit Tennis, children as young as three and a half wait impatiently to fly yellow ducklings over a mountain to find the mother duck. They shout in relief as their duck flies safely above the crocodile lurking at the foot of the mountain. And when their duckling returns, the odyssey begins again.

These children are not engrossed in a Chinese fable or a high tech video game, they are playing tennis, without knowing it. Le Petit Tennis method engages children in role play to teach the game. They create images and stories for the tennis equipment, techniques and boundaries to learn the pillars of the game.

Colorful storybooks and stickers ("My First Tennis Book series") add excitement and feed youngsters' imaginations through many educational adventures in a journey across countries and cultures. Keeping playing at home is easy with the "Starter Kit" which regroups all the adapted equipment linked to the stories.

Petit Tennis is the brainchild of former ATP and WTA tennis pros, Jean Philippe and Sybile Fleurian. In 2001, Jean Philippe and his wife Sybile founded Le Petit Tennis with the goal of teaching tennis to young children—and actually crafted the curriculum with sports psychologists, child development specialists and tennis trainers from the French Tennis Federation with their two young daughters in mind.

In Le Petit Tennis lessons, coaches use a series of stories, colorful books, games, small-format courts with decorations and age-adapted equipment like large inflatable balls, lower nets, and bigger rackets to teach.

LPT instructors require no prior knowledge of tennis. The classes may be administered both indoors and outdoors with no need of a tennis court.

Elements

Story oriented teaching method designed for children ages 3 ½ to 6 years old

  • Booklet series (Year 1) for ages 4-5 and (Year 2) for ages 6 -7.
  • Age adapted materials "Starter Kit"
  • 17" racquet
  • Special 6" inflatable balls
  • 7 color bracelet indicating level of progression
  • Laminated story board with a parent do-it-at-home
    educational guide
  • Portable teaching kit
  • Secured web area for both parents & instructors tracking progress
  • Training and certification course

History

Le Petit Tennis began in January 2001 in South Florida. Jean Fleurian, CEO, was a top 40 tennis player in the world with wins against celebrated players such as Boris Becker, amongst others. His goal with LPT was to make tennis accessible at a grass roots level and help promote the development of a healthy lifestyle at the earliest age.

Since its development, LPT has grown to be over 19 countries like the U.S., Italy, Brazil, France, and Israel, to name a few. Today LPT reaches over 100,000 children every year.