TENNIS

By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

EVEN if it’s the middle of the season, there’s always time to forge ahead and cultivate initiatives to increase participation.

Heyfield Tennis Club and Nambrok Tennis Club combined for a summer holidays coaching clinic which ran from January 16 to 19, with help from Gippsland Tennis Coaching.

With both clubs finding numbers, particularly among juniors, to be dwindling, a collaborative four-day event saw close to 40 participants aged between five and 14.

The initial new year program was a first for the team at Gippsland Tennis Coaching, who have now committed to coaching at each club every weekend to go along with training in Traralgon, Moe, Warragul and Drouin.

Split between the Gordon Street, Heyfield and Nambrok Hall Road venues, the easy-going clinic gave each regional tennis club the opportunity to provide local kids further learnings from coaches it wouldn’t usually be able to supply.

Nambrok Tennis Club Secretary, Jayne Jackson highlighted the praise that was heaped on Moe Tennis Coach, Fletcher Nilsson, who conducted sessions from all levels of ability and ages entirely on his own.

“We had a 13-year-old that had a one-on-one session with him for an hour or so and then had groups of six to eight kids at five-years-of-age, so it’s a huge difference,” she said.

“He was very adaptable and they were all really impressed with him especially in the heat… some of them didn’t finish until 2.30 in the afternoon and they started at nine o’clock (in the morning), so it was big days for Fletcher especially at Nambrok.”

Equally, Heyfield Tennis Club Secretary, Cayla Silvester noted feedback surrounding Nilsson on the day, which begins their newfound relationship.

“A lot of comments we had (from) some committee members there during the day supervising… all they could hear from the court from the little kids was just giggles which was really, really good to hear, it was a bit cute,” she said.

“Expanding to have Mark (Stevens) and Fletcher on board is a really important move that the committee’s decided to do and can offer a lot more different programs for the different members of our community.”

Nilsson admitted the challenges of such a hefty and unfamiliar group, but that he is looking forward to continuing to teach these juniors as he enters his fourth year with Gippsland Tennis Coaching.

“The tough thing was just trying to find the right group for every single kid because there’s a lot of kids, really pretty much all of them were new kids… so it’s a bit of an adjustment because nobody knew what was going to be going on. Whether one had been playing for a different club or another (who) had never even touched a racket before,” he said.

“(The kids were) really, really good, I’m surprised like all were really outgoing, easy to talk to.

“I’m shocked with how many kids there were especially for such small towns… being able to get that many over the school holidays especially while a lot of people will be away was special.”

Clubs supplied food and drink during lunch breaks to ease pressure on Nilsson who handled all of the activities on the court with the kids.

Heyfield is aiming to run another coaching clinic around Easter and are in talks to secure grant funding that will boost opportunities for the sport in the country town.

Smaller tennis club Nambrok had been suffering drastically in the wake of the pandemic, but following a landmark redevelopment of its facilities is slowly rebuilding and finding a new group of kids for its new coaches.

“We went from 23 kids on a Friday night to zero (after COVID), then the courts got done up in that period of time as well and just trying to get the kids back,” Jackson said.

“You lose that group that progress past beginners and then they don’t want to do it anymore and it’s trying to get the kids back in at ground level (that) has been really hard and securing a coach.

“We’ve gone through three coaches because they’ve moved away and that our numbers aren’t substantial enough. So, we’re very lucky that Gippsland Tennis Coaching are willing to try and build up numbers and give us a go.”

Head coach of Gippsland Tennis Coaching, Stevens works with Tennis Australia and United States Professional Association as a professional coach, who was training American Mitchell Kruger at the 2025 Australian Open.

Stevens participated at the ITF World Seniors Championships, attaining a ranking of Number 5 in singles and Number 3 in doubles, and has been a hitting partner for numerous players during the Australian Open over the last 10 years.