Ryan Shorthouse, a Conservative policy advisor, Deputy Editor of CrossBow Magazine and qualified Tennis Coach, looks at the potential benefits of mixed-age classes and clubs.
On the national junior tennis circuit, three types of matches would provoke intense nerves: playing someone with a lower rating than you, playing someone you train with in your regular squad, and - more crucially - playing someone younger than you. Agassi-style aggressive baseline play, practised again and again in gruelling coaching sessions, would be replaced by tentative "hacking" - just hitting down the middle of the court with no pace, fearful of missing.
If you were twelve, losing to a nine-year old was a cardinal sin. Your reputation on the tour would temporarily be in tatters: a no-show at the end-of-tournament BBQ would be a certainty. For some, the pressure was too much: 5-2 down in the first set against a player three years younger meant sunglasses had to be worn - even in the middle of winter - to hide the tears that inevitably ensued.
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