Tuam Tennis Club

 

PARKS TENNIS

 

The Parks Tennis Summer Camp will be taking place from 28th June to 23rd July 2010 . Registration Forms will be available in advance.

Registration takes place at courts on Friday 18th June between 4pm and 6pm or on Thursday 24th June between 7pm and 8.30pm.

 

 

 

ABOUT PARKS TENNIS

 

CONGRATULATIONS to all the participants of the Parks Tennis Camp.  You and your parents survived 4 weeks of tennis at the Currylea courts in Tuam.  Most of the 81 who registered, attended for the whole period, with a few taking time out for various individual reasons, including other camps and family activities.

 

 

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 (29 July, between 10:00 and 16:00).  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.

 

It may well be that there will be a future Irish ‘Nadel’, or a future Irish ‘Williams’, in Galway that day.  On the other hand, if we in Tuam have managed to sow a seed of interest in tennis as a fun family activity, the camp was a success. 

 

In response to the enquiry from many of the parents of children who took part this year.  A lot of water still has to go under the bridge before next summer.  But, with or without a new relief road, and as long as there is a Tuam-based tennis facility available to the community, PARKS TENNIS will be back for your children in Tuam in 2010.

 

Keep an eye on the Tuam Herald, and for notices in schools and shops.  Details will also be posted on this website.

 

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and we encourage all to continue to make full use of the Currylea courts while you can (The nets are removed around the autumn half-term holiday, for the winter).  

 

Brian

(Lead-coach, PARKS TENNIS @ Tuam 2008)