Friday, Jun. 13, 2008

NETT Offers Free Lessons

Tennis Association Hoping to Reach Young Athletes

By Zach Warner

Staff Writer

For the next two weekends, young tennis players will have the chance to receive free instruction at area tennis centers in Southlake and Trophy Club, among other locations.

Thanks to the Northeast Tarrant Tennis [NETT] organization, beginners can receive quality instruction from tennis pros and USTA college players for two hours at four separate tennis clinics. The first is from 9 to 11 this morning at the Richland Tennis Center, with the Southlake Tennis Center hosting the next one from 9-11 a.m. Saturday.

The Hurst Tennis Center will conduct the following clinic on June 20, with the Trophy Club Tennis Center providing the final clinic on June 21, both also taking place from 9-11 a.m.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. the day of the clinic. Call the Southlake Tennis Center at 817-421-5605 to reserve a spot. Children need to wear comfortable shoes and bring their own tennis racket. To attend the clinic in Trophy Club, call 817-491-9586.

"This is the first year for us to actually conduct the free lessons," said Robyn Readicker, NETT spokesman. "In the past, we’ve reimbursed kids that are going to be going to summer camp, but those were some of the advanced kids that were doing that.

"We realized we were missing some of the beginner kids," she said. "We wanted to get this going and reach them."

NETT is holding the clinics as a way to give back to the community. With over 800 adults in NETT leagues, the organization puts a portion of its profits into junior programs, which is one of its big priorities, Readicker said.

Paying for eight pros to conduct the clinics at each location, NETT planned for a 1:10 ratio of teachers to students at each event. Although 80 kids are expected, the Richland facility has already reported a list of 100 kids signed up, demonstrating the popularity of the free clinic.

"Each facility has the opportunity to show the kids a good time with their pros on staff," Readicker said. "They’re hoping that the kids will have such a good time that they’ll attend their camps and those sort of things.

"We’re basically flipping the bill so that kids can come and receive free instruction," she said. "It should be a win-win-win situation."

The four facilities conducting the clinics are primary locations of NETT tennis activity in the Tarrant County area. Southlake and Trophy Club have strong membership for both its adult and junior tennis programs.

With over 800 adults and between 300-400 junior tennis players involved in NETT tennis activities across the Greater Fort Worth area, the organization wants to give opportunities to younger players who for one reason or another haven’t had the opportunity to learn the basics of tennis from quality instructors.

"Southlake and Richland are probably the strongest locations because of the number of courts available and the staff that they have," Readicker said. "They really reach out to the community. Southlake has its Junior Tennis Academy and that reaches a lot of kids. … Trophy Club has also had a good response.

"As far as I know, these are the only free [tennis clinics] in the area," she said. "There are plenty of camps in the area for baseball or soccer or other sports. But this will allow at least a couple of hours of free instruction on the court. All the facilities have programs for kids and adults after the free camps are over if they would like to continue to be involved with tennis programs."