Tuam Tennis Club

 

PARKS TENNIS

 

The Parks Tennis Summer Camp took place from 4th July to 29th July 2011 .

85 children aged between 6 and 15 years took part in the camp

 

Parks Competition Results were as follows:

           Girls    U-8     Corinne Cleary

                      U-10    Shona Hendrick

                      U-12    Niamh Quinn

                      U-14    Sadhbh Hendrick

           Boys    U-8     Jeffrey Prendergast

                      U-10    Robert Murphy

                      U-12    Michael Collins

                      U-14    Matthew Murphy

 

The Under 10’s, 12’s and 14’s represented Tuam in the Galway Finals at Galway Lawn Tennis Club, and they performed exceptionally well. Robert and Matthew were runners-up in their competitions, while Shona and Sadhbh were the winners in their events.

Well done to all who took part.

          

 

 

 

 

ABOUT PARKS TENNIS

 

The aims of PARKS TENNIS IRELAND are:

1. To enable children to play tennis at minimum cost to their families

2. To promote interaction between children from different social backgrounds.

3. To encourage the formation of community tennis clubs in the parks where parents can join in, again at minimum cost.

4. To train young adults to become Tennis Coaches and Leaders through FÁS and other courses.

5. To provide employment opportunities for these young adults, especially during the summer months.

That these aims, within the framework of a healthy sporting activity for children, meet community, social and economic needs.

 

                                                           ‘PARKS TENNIS IRELAND, coaching manual’

 

 

The main content of the camps’ programme, at Tuam, may have changed as we went through the weeks (see previous summaries on this web-site), but the focus on motivating each individual participant to reach their own potential, within a safe, structured, fun-filled and friendly environment remained central throughout.

 

To that end, participants received Skill Award stickers that reflected the efforts that were put into achieving tennis-playing skills.  Not everyone responds best to traditional coaching formats, so many of the exercises and games are designed to augment the technical input by the coaches.  Without necessarily being aware of it, therefore, participants were already gaining the required skills. The certificates can be retained as a record of where the bar was this year, and a motivation to raise the bar next year.

 

You will be aware that the last week was given over to tournament matches.  Participants were encouraged to put what they had learnt to the test in real-life competitive matches.  All the coaches were impressed by the improvements made, by just about everyone, in 4 short weeks.  It was extremely rewarding to witness the joy of participants successfully exercising, their new-found abilities.  This joy was evident for participants who managed to connect with a ball for the first time, as much as for those who successfully started and finished lengthy rallies.  Each progression was a very individual and a very personal victory. 

 

As well as the PARKS TENNIS tournament prizes that the winners (male and female) received on the last day of the camp, the representatives of the U10, U12 and U14 categories (male and female) have been offered the chance to compete at a tournament based at Galway Lawn Tennis Club. This competition will include the equivalent winners from all the Galway-wide PARKS TENNIS venues.  As a larger tournament, this competition gives participants the opportunity to stretch themselves a bit further.