About 400 students gathered around the blacktop now transformed
into a handful of mini tennis courts, eagerly watching El Roble
Principal Scott Otteson take a mighty forehand swing at a tennis
ball.
About 400 students gathered around the blacktop now transformed into a handful of mini tennis courts, eagerly watching El Roble Principal Scott Otteson take a mighty forehand swing at a tennis ball.
The students gazed in amazement as the impact caused the ball to explode in midair.
The jaw-dropping special-effects gimmick was part of an assembly or, more accurately, a hands-on tennis exhibition, sponsored by the United States Tennis Association last Wednesday.
Nothing like a regular sit-down assembly, the volunteer instructors had the energetic and anxious student body and faculty up and actively participating, all the while teaching the students the basic fundamentals of the game.
“It’s about teaching kids, beginners really, about how to have fun, emphasizing the fun and not over teaching,” said Jack Maguire, a United States Professional Tennis Association certified instructor of Quick Start Tennis and the head coach of the Junior Team Tennis League in Gilroy.
Maguire, who has been instructing tennis for 20 years, said the goal of this event was to spread the word about the ease in which kids can learn to play the game of tennis and the accessibility of proper instruction and ultimately developing a long-term youth interest in the sport.
Erica Lee, a USTA representative for the area, assisted in the organization of the event.
“We try to put on these assemblies to generate interest in the kids,” said Lee, who also participated in Tennis Day in Gilroy earlier this year.
Usually events that the USTA put together take a month of preparation, however Lee organized this event with one week’s notice and it proved just as successful.
“I want to do more assemblies at El Roble in the fall,” Lee said.
Todd Dissly, another USTA trainer, was the voice and presenter at the event.
“I thought we had an incredible impact,” Dissly said, adding that he wants to bring tennis to more campuses in Gilroy.
Dissly, Lee, Maguire, Otteson, and a host of other volunteers from the USTA and the Gilroy Tennis Club volunteered their time to give each child as much instruction as possible.
“I would say at least 90 percent of the kids received individual attention,” Maguire said.
According to the USTA’s website their mission is “to promote and develop the growth of tennis.”
Maguire said that the organization is currently campaigning to target children under the age of 10 because there has been a huge lack of influence in the age group in the U.S.
The organization is the largest tennis organization globally and has more than 700,000 individual members, 7,000 organizational leaders, thousands of volunteers and professional staff “dedicated to growing the game,” according to USTA’s site.
It seems like their mission was a success at the elementary school last week, gauging from the excitement the children expressed at the event.
Since the event was USTA sponsored, the students used USTA training equipment, such as mini nets and tennis balls designed specifically for beginners. The balls are larger than regular tennis balls and do not bounce as high, which allows the students to hit the ball with greater efficiency and increase the ease of practice in order to better grasp the techniques the instructors are teaching.
“It is kind of nice to say that somewhere down the line you encouraged someone and they had a positive experience and they continued to play for another 30 years,” Maguire said.
Junior Team Tennis League meets every Wednesday at Las Animas Park from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. To get more information about Quick Start Tennis and JTTL, visit cityofgilroy.org.
