Our modern lifestyle is conspiring against youth in Japan. It's simply too easy for them to spend excessive amounts of time in front of the TV or sitting for hours playing video games. Add to this a limited amount of outdoor playing space in most of Japan, plus unhealthy snacking habits, and it's easy to see why there is an emerging epidemic of overweight children in Japan.

To counter this alarming trend, children can be introduced to a fun, challenging, and competitive sport like tennis, and encouraged to embrace it as a lifelong form of physical education and mental discipline.

Children don't just need a sport like tennis to be healthy - children actually want more physical activity in their lives. The average time that kids in Japan spend playing outdoors is 1 hour and 47 minutes per day, but statistics reveal that they would rather spend approximately 2 1/2 hours playing. In fact, studies show children would like to play as much as 6 hours of sport per week. Unfortunately schools don't devote that much time to physical eduction which is why extra-curricular sports are so important in bridging the gap.

In addition to wanting more physical activity in their lives, children also want to excel in a sport. According to data generated by a Hakuhodo project designed to identify new children's markets, 59.8% of children wish to acquire a skill in some kind of sport for the sake of their future development. Moreover, 89.5% of children would like to develop some special skill over and above their peers, of which 70.7% expect to work especially hard to acquire such a skill. Having some kind of sporting ability is obviously important to most children and they are willing to invest the time and effort into acquiring it.

Finally data from various sources in the United States reveal some very compelling benefits of after-school activities. Studies show that students involved in after-school programs receive better grades, attend school more regularly and have overall improved behavior. They also express greater hopes for the future and more interest in school, (Education Week, October 2000). Furthermore, teens who participate in after-school programs are less likely to skip class, use marijuana and other drugs, smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or engage in sexual activity, (YMCA of the USA, 2001). Finally, after-school programs can provide substantial amounts of health-enhancing physical activity and opportunities to practice skills taught in physical education courses, (A Report to the President from the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Education, 2001).

Children want and need more sport in their lives and tennis is an ideal sport for children for a number of reasons:

• Fast-pace promotes cardiovascular health
• Improves hand & eye coordination
• Can be played throughout life
• Social benefits
• Does not require a team, just one other person to play with
• Friendly competition

Shai Gigi, the head coach at Jinji Tennis Center has extensive experience developing training programs for children. Jinji Tennis Center understands the benefits of sport for children, and therefore is offering a special tennis-training program designed especially for their unique needs.