Junior Tennis at Hillcrest
Hillcrest Evolution Junior Tennis
Program Mission
Our mission is to provide a clear, well-defined path of development for every student in a fun, positive learning environment. This path of progression is based on both understanding the child and how they learn the tennis and athletic skills to develop real competency in tennis.
Program Outline
The clinic program consists of the following:
- Instructional Clinics – students are engaged in drills and partner-based activities to develop and improve their skills.
- Supervised Practices – students practice the skills they learned during the clinic and work on the ability to rally the ball in a defined space and play competitive points.
- Tournament Event – end of session in-house tournament based on professional tennis events where juniors play competitive points with classmates of the same level. This is a great way to introduce competition in a relaxed, fun way with the goal not to have one winner in their age group but to teach students to enjoy the process of competing and build the competitive skills of focus, facing adversity, increasing awareness, and sportsmanship.
Program Pathway
The program is broken down into two age groups and two levels within those age groups.
10 and Under Tennis
- Track 1 pathway is Pee Wees to Red Ball to Orange Ball to Green Ball.
- Track 2 (advanced) pathway is Future Stars to Green Ball Advanced.
11 and Over Tennis
- Track 1 pathway is Junior Development to Junior Competitive to Junior Advanced.
- Track 2 pathway is Junior Performance to Performance.
Program Curriculum
Evolution Tennis was created by Mike Barrell, one of the world’s top experts in child tennis (evolutiontennis.net), with a six-level competency progression based on tactical missions with underlying technical skills, athletic skills, and positive behaviors (explore, compete, train, respect). The goal is to help students advance to the next level from their current level.
Level 1 Develop the correct fundamental stroke movements and balance skills, plus beginning rally skills.
Level 2 Gain consistency in getting the ball in a defined space and continue to build skills to serve, rally, and score.
Level 3 Directing the ball into different areas on the court with movement and recovery combined with strokes.
Level 4 Learning to direct the ball with greater accuracy and speed while using patterns to connect shots together.
Level 5 Continue to build technical and athletic skills to direct the ball faster with more spin and greater variation.
Level 6 With greater skill and tactical awareness, emphasis on how to attack and defend based on opponents abilities.
The foundation with these levels is to create a game-based tennis learning environment with basic principles:
- Clearly defined playing space, so students know what is in and what is out and begin the process of learning court orientation. Defined space creates more feedback and efficiency for learning.
- Partner based activities to learn tennis is played with an opponent on the other side of the net and the importance of developing send (strokes) and reception (ball tracking, balance, movement) skills.
- A movement cycle with students learning from the start that tennis is game of movement, learning to balance when hitting, and then recover to be ready for the next shot.
10 and Under Programs
Welcome to the Evolution Pathway: Hillcrest Evolution. Learn to play and excel at tennis through progressive technique and athletic skill development.
EVOLUTION CLINICS (8 week sessions)
Pee Wees (ages 4–5)
Develop athletic and tennis skills through games and play.
Clinic times: Monday 4:15-5:00pm, Wednesday 4:15-5:00pm
Cost: $139 (one clinic/week); $259 (two clinics/week)
Level 1 Juniors
Develop foundational movement, balance, and hitting skills.
Clinic times: Monday 5:00-6:00pm, Friday 6:00-7:00pm
Practice time: Saturday 12:30-1:30 pm
Cost: $209 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $379 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Level 2 Juniors
Skill development to gain stroke consistency, improve balance, serve, and rally.
Clinic times: Wednesday 5:00-6:00pm, Thursday 5:00-6:00pm
Practice time: Saturday 12:30-1:30 pm
Cost: $209 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $379 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Level 3 Juniors
Advancing skills to direct ball, improve movement, and learn basic strategy.
Clinic times: Monday 5:00-6:00pm, Wednesday 5:00-6:00pm
Practice time: Friday 5:00-6:00 pm
Cost: $209 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $379 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Future Stars
Competitive track for skill advancement for Level 2 and Level 3 Juniors.
Clinic times: Wednesday 4:30-6:00pm, Saturday 9:00-10:35am
Practice times: Friday 5:00-6:00pm
Cost: $299 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $549 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Green Advanced
Competitive track for skill advancement for Level 4 and Level 5 Juniors.
Clinic times: Wednesday 4:30-6:00pm, Saturday 9:00-10:35am
Practice time: Saturday 1:30-2:30pm
Cost: $299 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $549 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Practices are supervised. All classes run 55 minutes and 85 minutes respectively. The last week of session will be a tournament instead of practice.
Junior Members save $10 on session cost; Sibling discount of $10 per child. (Applies for full session only)
TO REGISTER CONTACT THE FRONT DESK, 610-779-7900.
Please note all students are placed in clinics by level. For first-time students, a free evaluation is needed.
SUMMER 2024 EVOLUTION TENNIS CAMPS
(1-week sessions)
Red, Orange, and Future Stars Camp (10 & under)
Students will work on strokes, movement, ball tracking, and tactics in a supportive and progressive game-based environment. Each camp includes 15 hours of practice, T-shirt (one per summer), and Friday pizza party.
Session Dates: June 10-14/ June 24-28/ July 15-19/ July 29-August 2
Times: 9am – 12pm
Cost: $219 per week; $20 discount for a second session of camp
11 and Over Programs
Welcome to the Evolution Pathway: Hillcrest Evolution. Learn to play and excel at tennis through progressive technique and athletic skill development.
EVOLUTION CLINICS (8 week sessions)
Junior Development (Level 1 & 2)
Learn tennis and athletic skills to rally and play.
Clinic times: Monday 4:30-6:00pm, Friday 4:30-6:00pm
Practice times: Friday 3:30-4:30pm, Saturday 1:30-2:30pm
Cost: $299 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $549 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Junior Competitive (Level 3 & 4)
Improving consistency and direction with greater speed and basic strategy.
Clinic times: Tuesday 4:30-6:00pm, Thursday 4:30-6:00pm, Saturday 9:00am-10:30am
Practice times: Friday 3:30-4:30pm, Saturday 1:30-2:30pm
Cost: $299 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $549 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Junior Advanced (Level 4, 5 & 6)
Advancing strokes with speed and spin with greater variability.
Clinic times: Thursday 4:30-6:00pm, Saturday 9:00-10:30am
Practice times: Friday 3:30-4:30pm, Saturday 1:30-2:30pm
Cost: $299 (one clinic, one practice/week and tournament); $549 (two clinics, one practice/week and tournament)
Junior Performance Training
Highly competitive track with Level 3, 4, and 5 training.
Clinic times: Tuesday 4:00-6:00pm, Saturday 10:30am-12:30pm
Cost: $339 (one clinic/week and tournament), $619 (two clinics/week and tournament)
Performance Training
Highly competitive track with Level 4, 5 and 6 training.
Clinic times: Monday 4:00-6:00pm, Thursday 4:00-6:00pm, Saturday 10:30am-12:30pm
Cost: $339 (one clinic/week and tournament); $619 (two clinics/week and tournament)
All classes run 85 minutes and 115 minutes respectively. The last week of session will be a tournament instead of practice.
Junior Members save $10 on session cost; Sibling discount of $10 per child. (Applies for full session only)
TO REGISTER CONTACT THE FRONT DESK, 610-779-7900.
Please note all students are placed in clinics by level. For first-time students, a free evaluation is needed.
SUMMER 2024 EVOLUTION TENNIS CAMPS
(1-week sessions)
Junior Development, Junior Competitive, Junior Advanced & Green Advanced Camp
Students will work on strokes, movement, ball tracking, and tactics in a supportive and progressive game-based environment. Each camp includes 15 hours of practice, T-shirt (one per summer), and Friday pizza party.
Session Dates: June 17-21/ July 8-12/ July 22-26/ August 5-9
Times: 9am – 12pm
Cost: $219 per week; $20 discount for a second session of camp
SUMMER 2024 PERFORMANCE CAMPS
(4-week sessions)
Accelerated Performance Progression to raise level of play consisting of focused drilling, live ball, footwork, tactical development, conditioning, and match play.
Performance Camp Session
Session One: June 10-July 12 (Break July 1-5)
Session Two: July 15-August 9
Times: Mondays 9am – 12pm; Wednesdays 9am-3pm; Fridays 2pm-4pm
Cost: $499 per session or $149 per week; $20 discount for full session, if paid in full before start date of session
Junior Performance Camp Session
Session One: June 10-July 12 (Break July 1-5)
Session Two: July 15-August 9
Times: Tuesdays 9am – 12pm; Thursdays 9am-3pm; Fridays 2pm-4pm
Cost: $499 per session or $149 per week; $20 discount for full session, if paid in full before start date of session
2023-2024 Season Session Dates (8-week session)
| Session 1 | September 9 – November 3 Tournament: November 2 (Beijing Open) |
| Session 2 | November 4 – January 19 Tournament: January 18 (Melbourne Open) (breaks Nov. 25-Dec. 1; Dec. 23-Jan. 5; and Jan. 20-26) |
| Session 3 | January 27 – March 23 Tournament: March 22 (Rome Open) (break March 24-30) |
| Session 4 | March 31 – June 1 Tournament: May 31 (Paris Open) (breaks May 20-26 and June 2-15) |
| Session 5* | June 16 – August 17 Tournament: August 16 (New York Open) * Summer classes Mon.-Thurs., no supervised practices. |
