29 graduate from youth tennis camp

A total of 29 youths, ranging in age from six to 14 years of age, participated in this year's annual Mountain Home Tiger Summer Tennis Camp held June 1-16 at the tennis courts in Richard Aguirre Park.

"It was a huge success," said Tiger tennis coach Tamzy House.

"The kids were enthusiastic and wanted to keep playing tennis, even after their daily session was over!"

The camp was designed using the USTA Quickstart Tennis format, where the instruction, courts, racquets and balls used are designed for the age and physical development level of the child. Emphasis was placed on body and eye-hand coordination, agility, balance and reaction speed, as well as learning basic tennis skills.

"Kids from four to eight years old start on a 36-foot court using large low compression balls and smaller racquets," said Coach House. "Once they have mastered some of the stroke techniques and learned how to play basic tennis games, they move to a 60-foot court with normal size, low compression balls designed for the court length.

"Kids nine to 10 years start on a 60-foot court, and the 11-14 year-old group uses the full court with low compression balls designed for 78-foot court play.

"Once the kids feel comfortable stroking the ball, they are moved up to using regular competition balls."

Coach House said that each camp session ended with the youths playing in a tournament. The first two sessions played a round-robin format, while the older youths played a main consolation draw format.

"The goal of the tournament is to give kids a chance to compete in tennis -- actually playing several games -- in a friendly, fun environment," said Coach House. "Kids learn that they are not always going to win, but if they play their best, give their opponent good competition, they have been successful.

"I tell the kids not to get frustrated -- it takes a lot of balls hit to perfect a tennis stroke. In fact, pros say it takes 1,000 balls hit to get 'muscle-memory,' where the stroke becomes automatic."

Connor Markus won first place in the 6- to 7-year-old group and Nicholas Campbell was second.

Julia Gipson won first in the 8- to 10-year-old group, with Joel Slominski taking second.

In the 11- to 14-year-old group, Cole Foreman faced his younger brother, Brad Foreman, in the finals, with Cole winning first and Brad second. Timothy Austin took third, Hayden Draper was fourth, and Shelby DeLeon finished fifth.

The next tennis camp conducted by Coach House will be July 20-31 at the Richard Aguirre Park tennis courts, offered through the Mountain Home Parks and Recreation Department. The format will be similar to the Tiger Tennis Camp, with sessions running Monday through Friday each week.

Session I will be from 8:30-9:30 a.m., for ages 4-5, Session II will run from 9:45-10:45 a.m. for ages 6-7, Session III will be from 11 a.m. to noon, and session IV will be for ages 11-14, from 1-2:20 p.m. The first three sessions cost $50 each, while the cost for session IV is $80.

Interested participants for the July camp need to sign up at Parks and Recreation. Any questions concerning the camp can be directed to Parks and Recreation at 587-2112, or Coach House at 590-0739.