Tennis program for kids moving to St. Davids Public School

Karen Wright is on a mission to build St. Davids into a tennis community, and it all starts with the kids. 

 A successful trial run of sessions held at the Anderson Lane community centre this fall convinced the retired teacher that she is on the right track. Starting Jan. 19, sessions for kids will start up again, this time at St. Davids Public School.

It began as a grassroots effort. Wright was contacted late last summer by a local parent, Gina Moore, who was looking for something for her seven-year-old son to do to stay active in the winter. 

Wright was able to book some time at the community centre, and Moore sent the information out to her friends and contacts via social media. The program was at capacity within minutes. The participants enjoyed three monthly sessions of instruction and fun games between October and December.

“All we want is for kids to feel good about playing tennis,” an enthusiastic Wright tells The Local. “In every other sport you have a game and you have a practice. We want to do the same thing for tennis.”

To that end Wright decided to concentrate on ages seven to 12, breaking them up into two groups. As she explains, at those ages they are old enough to grasp some of the rules and they have the motor skills to successfully use an age-appropriate racquet. 

Wright shows off four tennis racquets ranging in length from 17 to 23 inches. The smaller ones, of course, are designed to be used by younger players. She also demonstrates tennis balls marked with red, orange and green dots. They’re the same size as conventional tennis balls but bounce at a range of 25 per cent to 75 per cent lower. The equipment is designed to make tennis fun for early players.

“We ran three sessions, once a month, and had a big party at the end,” Wright says of the fall sessions. “They left knowing how to score and play, and they left loving tennis.”

“He loved it,” Moore says of her son, who was at all three sessions. “He just loves tennis and all racquet sports. And Karen is such a great teacher.”

Wright didn’t really pick up a racquet until she retired from the school board. She joined the NOTL Tennis Club and formed a connection with past president Rosemary Goodwin, who is currently the Ontario Tennis Association’s southwest regional tennis representative. 

Goodwin had started a program out of St. Davids Public School in 2016. When her husband Don became sick with cancer, the program was suspended. Wright says she is simply picking up the torch now that COVID has made it possible to return to the school.

Wright’s enthusiasm for the sport is palpable. She became a Tennis Canada certified instructor herself and also teaches the game at the Youngs Sportsplex in Welland. She has also worked with physical education teachers at a number of DSBN schools as a guest tennis instructor. 

“I’m like the travelling tennis woman,” she laughs. “You open up my car door and all this tennis equipment falls out.”

To make it work at St. Davids, Wright is recruiting older teens and adult players to help out as tennis volunteers. Each will start out by taking the SafeSport training program offered through Tennis Canada. She says it’s a great way for high school students to earn community hours and to build leadership skills. Many parents of children involved have also taken the SafeSport program and are ready to help out. 

At St. Davids, participants will be divided into groups aged seven to nine and eight to 12. The overlap is to give room to move children based on skill level, as some of them will be returning from the fall sessions at the community centre. The capacity is from 12 to 15 students per group.

Overseen by Wright, the volunteers will work with the groups on three small courts with mini-nets mapped out in the school gym. The program follows the Tennis Canada curriculum.

The activity is divided into two seven-night sessions, scheduled to accommodate the March Break. They run from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the younger age group and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the older kids, both on Thursday nights, with the final session scheduled for May 11.

“That’s the perfect time to end, as they can start to get out and use the community tennis courts,” Wright says. “And the NOTL Tennis Club offers great youth and adult tennis programs in the spring, summer and fall. This program will get new kids started earlier and hopefully keep them playing year-round.”

Wright hopes to continue the program in the warmer months on the courts at the St. Davids Lions Club park. 

“St. Davids is a growing community,” she adds, “and when you factor in the expected growth of the Glendale area, there are a lot of potential future tennis players that are going to be living in this town. And the park in St. Davids is a great place for the community to come together.”

For information regarding the Community Tennis Facilitator volunteer program and registration, which costs $70 and can be paid by e-transfer, cash or cheque, contact Wright at [email protected]. 

“Tennis is a very affordable sport,” says Wright. “All you need are two kids, a right-sized racquet, and a couple of balls. And we have some great public courts
in town. This is a sport for everyone.”