Why international families book US camp weeks
- To test American training before a bigger decision. The US model — and Florida's in particular — differs from most home systems, and the differences only show up on court. A camp week is the honest audition before anyone talks about relocation, online school or a full season. How the full model works is covered in our guide to US tennis academies for international students.
- English immersion that actually takes. A week of coaching, match play and lunch tables in English does more for a teenager's working language than months of classes — and for players eyeing the US college pathway, comfort in English is part of the preparation.
- Tournament-style match play. American training culture is heavy on competitive, observed match play against unfamiliar opponents — exactly the thing a junior cannot manufacture at home, and one of the main reasons coaches abroad send players over.
- Winter sun. When home courts move indoors from November to March, Florida keeps training outdoors all day. A holiday-week training block is a mid-season advantage nothing indoors replicates.
The travel part is simpler than most families expect
For a short training visit, visitor status is typically sufficient — a student visa generally only enters the picture when a player enrolls in something longer — and the details, thresholds and honest caveats are all in our guide to visas for junior tennis in the USA. Beyond that, a camp week is an ordinary family trip: flights, accommodation, and a booking confirmation from the academy.
What an integrated week at Saviano looks like
The question that separates camps everywhere applies doubly to a family flying in: does the visitor join a temporary camp group, or the academy's real training program? At Saviano, visiting players are integrated directly into the Full Time Developmental Program — the same courts, coaches and standards the year-round players get, at a maximum 4:1 player-to-coach ratio, on lighted hard and Har-Tru clay courts with video analysis and structured physical training built in. Why integration is the feature worth crossing an ocean for is the subject of our guide to high performance tennis camps.
There are two main windows. The summer program runs June through August in weekly blocks, 7:45 to 3:00 — full training days that can be stacked two or three weeks deep, which is how visiting players get the volume that produces visible jumps. Pricing as published for 2026 is $1,209 per week full day or $753 half day. Outside summer, holiday camps run over Thanksgiving, winter and spring break from 10:00 to 5:00, and during the season the same integrated training is available as flexible week-to-week blocks — often used by traveling players preparing for US tournaments.
Practical planning from abroad
- Flights. Davie sits in the middle of South Florida's airport cluster: Fort Lauderdale is about 15 minutes from the academy, Miami about 25, with three international airports within 50 minutes in all. From Europe and Latin America, direct routes into Miami or Fort Lauderdale make this one of the easiest US tennis destinations to reach.
- Accommodation. Day academies do not run dorms, so visiting families typically book a nearby hotel or short-term rental and make the week a training holiday — train all day, stay together as a family at night. Ask the academy what visiting families usually use; local knowledge beats a booking site.
- Equipment and heat preparation. Pack more shirts than seems reasonable, sunscreen, and a hydration habit — summer in Florida is hot and humid, and the first two days are an adjustment for players arriving from mild climates. Arriving a day early to acclimatize before training starts is money well spent. Winter visitors should add a warm-up layer for cool mornings.
- Level information. Send the academy the player's ranking, UTR or recent results when booking. An academy that asks about level before accepting a player is a good sign — grouping is what makes an integrated week work.
When the week goes well: from visit to pathway
Most camp weeks are just good weeks. But when the fit is obviously right, a visit becomes the first step of something longer, and the machinery for that already exists. The natural next move is the Saviano Evaluation — a benchmarking week inside the full-time group that ends with a written assessment of the player's level, developmental opportunities and path, usable with whoever coaches the player at home. Families who then decide on a season or more have options that do not require the whole family to move: some relocate a parent, and others use the academy's network of vetted host families in Davie. None of that needs deciding before the first visit — which is precisely why the first visit is worth making.