Sasha Francis goes for a forehand shot. Photos: Chloe Sipeki.
Tennis Coach Bastien Henrotin said he was happy to see 10 participants in a half-day tennis clinic on Tuesday.
The kids, who were six years and over, spent the morning practising back-hand drills and playing games focused on hand-eye coordination, quick decision making, running and team building.
Meanwhile, Esperance’s older generations of tennis players enjoyed a morning of social games on the adjacent courts.
The coordinator for mid-week social games, Noel Wilson, said seeing multiple generations of tennis enthusiast side by side was very encouraging.
“I think it encourages everyone to see the kids coming on,” he said.
“Otherwise, tennis is going to die, isn’t it?
“It’s good to see.”
Wilson, who said he had been playing tennis for 47 years, vouched for coaching as a significant advantage in the game.
“I didn’t have it, so my strokes are unique,” he said with a laugh.
“When people have had coaching, they are a mile ahead. You have a lot better chance of being reasonable players.”
Despite what seemed good turnout for a Tuesday morning, Mr Wilson said tennis in Esperance had a much greater presence 15 years ago.
“On Saturday we used to fill up a whole lot of courts,” he said.
“Nowadays, we had to give up Saturday because we didn’t have enough players.”
“It’s dropped quite markedly to what it was.”
Mr Wilson said he was hopeful more young people would take to tennis in Esperance to sustain the club or to simply be a part of the sport.
“The only issue we find with the juniors is they leave town and go off on their own,” he said.
“But hopefully they keep playing elsewhere.”
Mr Wilson encouraged people to join the group for social tennis from 9am on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“They are a great group of people and really enjoy their tennis,” he said.
Those keen to have a casual hit were welcome to come along to the tennis club’s Friday family tennis from 5.30pm, which Mr Wilson said cost $5 per player.
The club also runs social tennis for adults throughout the week and tennis coaching for all ages.
More information can be found on the Esperance Tennis Club website.
