Fort Lauderdale · Broward County · South Florida
Tennis lessons, delivered to a court near you.
I am Jackson Phillips, a certified tennis professional who drives to the public court most convenient for you. Lessons for every age and every level, with a special focus on helping young players move through Red, Orange and Green Ball.
Any age, any level
First-time four-year-olds, returning adults, tournament juniors and everyone between.
I come to you
I travel to the public courts that are most convenient for each student.
$70 an hour plus travel
One simple rate. You always know the price before you book.
Net Generation guide
I help young players and their parents navigate the USTA's Red, Orange and Green Ball pathway.
Lessons for everyone
Any age. Any ability. One coach.
I teach players of every age and every level. A child holding a racquet for the first time, a teenager getting ready for high school tryouts, an adult coming back after twenty years, a couple who want a weekly hit: we start exactly where you are.
Choose the format that suits you: private lessons for the fastest progress, semi-private lessons for two friends or siblings who want to share, or group lessons for three or more.
Your court, your schedule
I travel to the public court closest to you.
There is no club to join and no membership to buy. Tell me where you live and I will meet you at the public court that is most convenient for you, anywhere in Broward County and beyond.
Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Weston, Hollywood and the neighborhoods in between. If there is a public court near you, that is where your lesson is.
Honest pricing
$70 an hour, plus travel.
My time is $70 an hour, whether I am teaching you or driving to you. A lesson in my home zip code, 33311 in Fort Lauderdale, is $70. Everywhere else, the price is the lesson hour plus the driving time there and back, at the same rate. Nothing is hidden, and you will always know the price before you book.
The zone map shows typical one-hour private lesson prices by area. Your exact price depends on the drive to your court. Semi-private and group lessons share the cost between players.
My specialty
Helping young players navigate Net Generation.
Net Generation is the youth tennis program of the United States Tennis Association, the national governing body for tennis. It is the pathway most American children now follow from their very first rally to full-court competition. It is a wonderful system, and it can be confusing for parents. Explaining it, and guiding a child through it, is what I do best.
What it is
Tennis sized to fit the child.
For generations, children learned tennis with adult racquets, adult balls and a full-size court. The ball bounced over their heads, the court was too big to cover, and most of them spent a lesson chasing balls instead of hitting them.
Net Generation turns that around. The court, the ball and the racquet are all scaled to the child, so a beginner can rally, serve and play real points almost from the first day. As the child grows, the equipment grows with them.
The philosophy
Fun first. Development over winning.
Net Generation follows the American Development Model, an approach built on long-term growth as an athlete and as a person. It asks coaches and parents to put fun, teamwork, good decisions and learning to compete ahead of early results.
Nobody sits on the sidelines, and nobody is ranked before they are ready. A child who enjoys the game keeps playing it, and a child who keeps playing is the one who becomes a real player.
The progression
Red, then Orange, then Green.
Red Ball uses a larger, softer ball that bounces low and slow, on a 36-foot court with a racquet up to 23 inches long. The goal is tracking the ball, rallying and loving it.
Orange Ball moves to a 60-foot court, a ball with a little more bounce and a racquet up to 25 inches. Players learn direction, depth, movement and control.
Green Ball is played on the full 78-foot court with a ball slightly softer than the standard one and a racquet up to 27 inches. This is where tactics, positioning and match play come in, before the move to the regular Yellow Ball.
Why it works
A lower bounce means longer rallies.
A standard ball bounces above a small child's shoulders. A red ball bounces at waist height, right where a good swing happens. That single change lets a child learn proper technique from the start, instead of inventing awkward strokes to cope with a ball that is too lively.
Smaller courts matter just as much. A child who can cover the whole court learns to construct a point, not just to survive one.
Moving up
The color fits the child, not the birthday.
The USTA suggests rough ages for each stage: Red around 5 to 7, Orange around 7 to 9, Green around 9 to 11. Those are guides, and they overlap on purpose. What matters is skill.
A child is ready for Orange when they can rally with control, ready for Green when they can serve and keep score, and ready for Yellow when they can compete on a full court. I will tell you honestly where your child is today and what comes next.
First competitions
Competition that fits your child.
Net Generation introduces competition gently, through three kinds of events. Team Challenges last about an hour and are played purely for fun. Junior Team Tennis is a season of local team match play. Junior Circuit events are one-day round robins where nobody is knocked out.
None of these count toward a ranking. Their job is to let a child discover that competing is enjoyable. I help each family find the right first event, and the right next one.
The PlayTracker
The Net Generation PlayTracker, in plain English.
The PlayTracker is the USTA's tool for players aged 5 to 10. It lives in your family's usta.com account and shows your child's current ball color, the points they have earned and what they need to move up.
Children earn play points simply for taking part in events, and win points once they reach Green Ball. A 7 or 8 year old can move from Orange to Green by collecting 1,000 play points, and a Green Ball player moves to Yellow with 1,500 points, at least 1,000 of them from wins. The USTA also allows a certified coach to assess a young player's readiness.
It is a lot to keep track of. I keep track of it for you.
What I do for your family
A good coach handles all of it.
Parents should not need a manual to sign a seven-year-old up for tennis. I explain where your child is on the pathway, choose the right events, follow the points, and tell you when it is time for the next color. You get to enjoy watching.
Ask me about your childYour coach
Jackson Phillips
I hold certifications from the leading bodies in tennis coaching, and I have spent more than ten years teaching at country clubs before taking my lessons on the road.
Racquet Sports Professionals Association — Elite Professional
Professional Tennis Registry — Certified
International Tennis Performance Association — Certified Tennis Performance Specialist
United States Tennis Association — Coaching Professional
Ready to play?
Call or email, tell me where you are, and I will bring the lesson to you.
Net Generation and the Net Generation PlayTracker are programs of the United States Tennis Association. The Tennis Tactician is an independent coaching business.