Jim Huneke, a USPTA Elite Professional has been working hard to help children learn and play tennis. The Quickstart program is one of the great tools available which he believes can bring more children into the world of tennis.

Jim Huneke is a dedicated Tennis professional who is very interested in seeing the great sport of tennis grow. As a longtime physical education teacher, Jim Huneke understands the importance of children developing a love for sports and participating in sports at a very young ago. This is a way Jim Huneke has dedicated quite a bit of time to learning the Quick Start system of tennis which was developed by the USTA. The United State Tennis Association (USTA) sees its mission as a mission “To Promote and Develop the Growth of Tennis.” Jim Huneke believes wholeheartedly with that mission and works to further it every chance he gets.

One of the most important facets of the Quick Start program is its focus on young people under the age of ten and their needs in developing a love for the game at a young age. There is recognition that kids like kids sized things. Whether that means kid sized card or furniture kids love it. It can help them feel like special to have things that are sized appropriately for the, That idea finally came to tennis in 2008 when the USTA launched its Quick Start program. Quick Start for the first time helped to develop equipment which was more suited for younger children including smaller tennis racquets, tennis ball in a variety of sizes and weights and nets which were sized down to meet the needs of children.

When the program was originally introduced in 2008, Special racquets, balls and a special court were prepared. Professional tennis players Martina Navratilova and Mary Joe Fernandez were there to use the specially made equipment. This equipment was oversized to the same extent that regular adult equipment is oversized for children. This gave people a more thorough idea of what a child experiences when they try to play tennis with adult equipment and courts. A frustrating experience for the professionals proved how frustrating it can be for children. Children when they are frustrated trying to learn a sport like this can be turned off from the sport and will often then move on to a sport which they feel is more suited to them.