Junior Coaching

Our Junior Coaching programme is held on Saturday mornings with the season starting in early September and runs through to April. Our programme uses the Hot Shots coaching principals to introduce younger players to the game of tennis. 

Junior Coaching Sessions

We focus primarily on coaching junior members rather than just arranging games. Coaching sessions include:

• Warm up period, which includes exercises to ensure the juniors are warmed up and also focuses on ball skills to enhance hand/eye co-ordination.
• Juniors are broken up into small groups of similar standards.
• Coaching includes basic instruction on forehand, backhand and serving, as well as some fun games to enhance learning.
• On the last Saturday in each month a small tournament will be run which gives all juniors an opportunity to play games, learn how to score and give the coaches an indication of the relative improvement of their group members.

The primary focus, particularly in initial years of playing, is to make sure that the coaching is appropriate to the level being taught and above all is enjoyable. We are conscious of the need to have variety each Saturday and as a consequence we operate a four-week cycle incorporating different activities. 

Cancellations

Should it be necessary to cancel Saturday morning play due to wet weather, a message will be put on our Shirley Tennis Club Facebook page and sent out on the Club App. Our synthetic courts allow us to play in slightly damp conditions, so as a general rule play is only cancelled on very wet days.

Equipment

We use small courts and soft tennis balls to aid player development. These are proven coaching methods for young players and an excellent confidence booster before players progress onto full-scale tennis. We have a number of tennis rackets for juniors to use initially, but once juniors have confirmed their membership there is an expectation all juniors will bring their own rackets (it is recommended that rackets are named in some way to avoid being mixed up with others each Saturday).

All our club tennis balls have STC on them to make them identifiable with the Club and has meant that we are not losing balls as frequently as we had in the past. These balls are not to be taken away from the Club by any member.

For normal Saturday play/coaching, we do not require specific tennis clothing to be worn. Appropriate footwear however is an essential requirement for all members. Running, astro turf (hockey), touch rugby or street shoes are not permitted. These standards apply at all times when using our courts where inappropriate footwear will mark the surface of the court.

Junior Contacts

JUNIOR ADMINISTRATOR: Wayne Turner - 021 748 144
INTERCLUB CO-ORDINATOR: Theserie Aknine - 022 185 5410