Future of tennis in safe hands

The young tennis community came together for a weekend of fun and learning recently, with the hope of fostering a strong future for the sport.

Twenty young athletes participated in the Tennis NSW Future Leaders Program on August 13 and 14.

Tennis’ best and brightest came together for a weekend of fun and learning recently, with the aim of fostering a strong future for the sport.

The first Tennis NSW Future Leaders program was held from August 13-14 at Sydney Olympic Park’s Tennis Centre with about 20 participants from NSW and the ACT.

The tennis players, aged between 14-17, were nominated by their clubs and took part in team-building activities and learnt ways of assisting their clubs through a number of seminars including marketing, social media and an introduction to coaching.

The inaugural Tennis NSW Future Leaders Program was held on August 13 and 14.

The young players also held brainstorming sessions about participation, future tournaments and major events.

Tennis NSW’s participation manager Matt Starr said the Future Leaders program had been on the radar “for some time” but was finally launched this year with the support of the NSW Office of Sport and the TNSW Board.

Starr said the program aimed to provide leadership and development opportunities and examples of the career opportunities available for young people involved with tennis.

Starr said while the program would likely be run annually, Tennis NSW also plan to set up a more regular Youth Advisory Group that would meet “three to four times throughout the year to provide input into areas, issues, challenges and policies that are relevant to this age group”.

Reagan Cooke takes on rock-climbing at the Tennis NSW Future Leaders Program.

Tennis partners Reagan Cooke, 14, and Jessica Brand, 15, were chosen by their club, the Castle Hill Tennis Academy, to participate in the program.

“It was really fun,” Reagan said.

The pair, both from Castle Hill, joined the Academy around the age of six but only recently became tennis partners.

They both volunteer at their club and said the Future Leaders program had provided them with more ways they could be involved.

“It was really good to see how everything works and what we can do to help our local club,” Reagan said.

Jessica said the program’s coaching training was a highlight, as were the seminars on marketing and social media.

Jessica Brand enjoying the team-building activities at the Tennis NSW Future Leaders Program.

“I definitely learnt new ways to promote my own club and ways I didn’t think of before like videos and pamphlets that I could do myself,” she said.

One of Jessica’s favourite parts of the program was the opportunity to make new friends with like-minded people.

“When you’re there, you’re with people who do the same thing as you … they have an interest in sport and tennis particularly, and you can talk about it,” she said.

“There was only about 20 of us but … it is amazing that we’ve formed such a close bond after only two days.”

Starr said participants would hopefully “take away some leanings in leadership, team-building, a better understanding of their own personality and others, make some new friends, as well as some specific tennis training into program delivery”.

“On the back of the workshop, all participants are required to put this training and experience into practise by undertaking a specific project that will provide a positive impact to their local tennis club/centre.”