Is My Child Ready for Their First International Tournament?
Your kids may be ready if they can:
✅ Compete confidently against the strongest players in their region
✅ Handle winning and losing without emotional meltdowns
✅ Stay focused for multiple matches over several days
✅ Travel and maintain routines away from home
✅ Show genuine motivation to compete internationally
Below are signals that your kids are not ready:
- your kids struggle with basic match routines
- your kids are too stress on rankings
- you as parents are more excited than your kids
- your kids rarely win local national level matches
Think – “Would my kids enjoy the experience even if they lost every match?”
BUTTTTTT a question parents often forget to ask: Are you ready as a parent?
When Charlotte played her first international tournament, a TenPro event at age 10, I believed we were ready. We had already agreed that the goal was to gain experience, not to win matches.
In reality, I discovered that understanding something logically and feeling it emotionally are two very different things.
I was a competitive basketball player in my younger years, so I assumed I could handle the ups and downs of competition. But watching your own child struggle on court is a completely different experience.
Charlotte did not perform as well as I had hoped, and despite all my good intentions, I came home feeling disappointed. Not because she had failed, but because I wasn’t prepared for the emotions that came with seeing my child lose and underperform.
So remember: The first international tournament is often a learning experience for parents just as much as it is for the players.