How a love of tennis combats high youth sport dropout rate among girls

According to Statistics Canada and the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Institute, by age 17, the number of girls staying in sport is cut in half. Even worse, less than 10 per cent of girls aged 12 to 17 meet the 60 minute daily exercise requirement, whereas boys the same age are four times more likely to meet it (33 per cent). 

"Everyone feels so welcomed and safe here and it's just a good experience for everyone who comes through the door," says Danielle Smith, founder and director of A Love of Tennis. 

A Love of Tennis is an organization which has proudly dedicated itself to providing free tennis lessons for the community for over 20 years. Just recently, in alignment with Tennis Canada's Girls. Set. Match equity program, the charity has included initiatives to increase the number of women and girls participating in tennis and in sport at large. 

Among them is the "slice" program, a free, weekly tennis lesson designed for boys and girls aged 12 to 17 and is an hour and a half in duration. Smith intends to promote these lessons for more teenage girls, rather than boys in the area, as she believes adolescent girls are not walking through the doors as much. This is reflected in the high sport dropout rate, especially between the ages of 16 and 18. 

"There's a big gap between age 16 and 18 (...) they aren't playing; they quit," Smith says. "So that's what I'm working on changing." 

Emma, who plays both ringette and tennis, is a teenager who attends the lessons every week. She explains what she likes about the organization's slice program. 

"Anyone can just come and it's perfect for anyone learning to play tennis (...) and it's fun too," she says. 

Emma plays ringette, tennis and volleyball with her friends, but when comparing classmates, Emma says the boys in her class are more likely to participate in sports than the girls. 

"Most of them (girls) I know don't really do sports teams, they mostly do activities, but the boys do sports like soccer or running."

Juliet, Emma's friend and a slice program participant who also plays ringette and tennis, explains why she likes the program. 

"I like it because it's not super long, it's just an hour and a half, and it's something to do on a night where I don't really have anything to do," she says. 

"Instead of being in bed, watching TV, I'm doing something active."

According to data collected from Participaction, youth aged 12 to 17 are the most sedentary group of people, spending about 10 hours a day not doing anything active. 

A Love of Tennis challenges this by encouraging parents to register their kids into the program, with the lack of expenses aiding in bringing in new youth tennis players. 

Besides helping promote physical activity, Danielle believes there is a kind of social boost that comes from participating in free tennis lessons, something the teens tend to value. 

"It brings friends together, so they're social, and the girls especially like the social more than playing," she says. 

"We allow them just to be themselves, play with each other, you know, have fun."

In addition to free weekly tennis lessons for adolescents, the organization hosts team tennis tournaments over the weekend, where children compete as a team against others, typically playing doubles. There they get a chance to make new friends, learn more about tennis rules and skills, as well as boost their self confidence. 

For girls who accumulated tennis experience, either from participating in A Love of Tennis' programs or from personal experience, they are given the opportunity to work or volunteer with the organization firsthand, either as instructors or helpers. 

Whether as a coach or a 'ball picker-upper,' girls get a chance to be directly involved in sport, even from simply giving tips on technique or helping kids find the right racquet size. Girls like Mariym and Rachel, who were both former participants turned instructors, took advantage of getting involved in tennis. 

Danielle spoke about how being involved can change a girl's life, highlighting Mariym's experience being around tennis and how that ultimately helped her in the long run. 

"She didn't know tennis at all when she came and she learnt it."

"She learned to teach it and developed so much self confidence," she said. 

As seen with Mariym, Emma and Juliet, sport can evidently play a role in amassing social confidence and contributing to physical fitness, but what more can it do for young girls?

To Emma, it can build character. 

"For sports, I'm more determined to do good or play my position well, so if I didn't play sports, I wouldn't be as determined," she says. 

"Also, it's really good for my mental state and can help for future struggles," Emma says as she explains how sport helped her learn how to accept losses and create resilience. 

To Juliet, sport teaches particular athletic skills she wouldn't have learned anywhere else, with emphasis on early childhood athletic development. 

"(Without sports) I wouldn't know how to do anything and it'd be hard," referring to how it would be challenging to participate in physical activities without sport as a precursor. 

Regardless of what skills or athletic abilities are learned or how many friends are made on the court, A Love of Tennis ensures all girls have a chance to continue active participation, renew it or even start it from scratch, with free weekly tennis lessons being just the beginning to combat the existing dropout rates.