When I (Carlos) went to college, I figured that I would end up coaching kids at one point. So, I took a lot of courses in child psychology. The whole idea is that kids generally assimilate best through analogy.  You can tell a kid something, but if you’re not careful how you present that information it gets too complicated for the kid to process it. I you make an analogy; the kid will never forget what you’re trying to say. So, I figured, that we have all of these situations happening in a match because every point is a different situation, which means different pressure.

We have to be able to break it down into basic situations that the kids can relate to. So, when they are under pressure in a match and they don’t know what to do next, they go: “Oh, that’s a green point. That’s how I’m going to play.”  Or “That’s a yellow point. That’s how I’m going to play.”

So, the way I designed it was simple. I broke down the game into two halves. The first half of the game, up to 30. I called it the yellow light. So, it’s a yellow cautionary type of time during a match.

From 30-30 on to the end of the game, the second half of the game. I call it red points. So those are very, very important points because if you make a mistake on a yellow point early on in the game, you can still patch it up. If you made a mistake or a wrong tactic in a red situation it can cost your whole game.

The green light is when you’re up by 2 points or more. 30-0, 40-0 40-15.

So general situations with general strategies.

The strategy for playing yellow is always playing forcing shots, forcing aggressive shots that force the player but with big targets and never hit the last shot of the point. Just always hit next to the last, next to the last and force that player to make an error.

On red points the same aggressiveness, but now increase the margin for error on your shot so you don’t hit as close to lines as you would on a yellow situation or as close to the net. So, you put a little more spin on the ball and a little bigger target. And again, it’s a red situation. And interesting because it’s a red situation for both players at 30-30, 40-40, 30-40, deuce and ad. It’s going on on the same for both sides of the court.

Green is where you are free to basically end the point with your own hands and go for a winner. That’s the only time that you’re allowed to go for a winner because you have a 2 points difference. If that winner does not make it, you will still have another point of advantage to be able to play as a red or as a yellow after that mistake on the green.

So, dividing points into a traffic light analogy creates a sort of a map that is easier for the kids, particularly when they are out there in the middle of the sun fighting a big match where the score is going back and forth.

As a tennis player it’s sometimes difficult to figure it out. What am I going to do at 15-30? You might be so tired that you just press it too hard at 15-30 and you go for a winner and play it as a green rather than a yellow point. That might cost you the whole game. You missed that attempt of a winner at 15-30 and you’re now down 15-40. Now the other guy takes a big green shot at you and he breaks you.  So, the purpose is really to help players with a road map of how to play in different situations during the match.