Younger players get chance to improve in Junior Team Tennis
Jun. 30—There are different drills that the kids go through at the end of Junior Team Tennis sessions, where players of different ages and skill levels are on the court, hitting shots to one another.
The program has plenty of younger kids, a group that is in the 10-11-year-old range that has been playing tennis for quite a few years already.
Some of the older kids are visibly better, have more height and experience, and can move opponents or workout partners around the court.
Some of the younger kids can more than hold their own in those drills and different matchups, with them being able to move well on the court and be aggressive shot makers.
With nearly all of those players, the forehand is the favorite stroke in their match-playing arsenal.
"I can play OK," said Gabrielle Moyers, who is 10. "I like forehands. I love forehands."
Moyers has been playing since she was 2.
"My dad (Audie) always took me out and tried to teach me," she said.
Her sister, Lexi, was also with the JTT group at Moreland Park earlier this week.
She plays volleyball also but said tennis is her favorite. Lexi has done quite a few tennis clinics the last fiv years.
"That's an easy way to learn," Lexi said. "Serving has been the hardest thing to learn."
A lot of the younger players started out in pee wee classes together.
They would start out hitting a big red ball.
"It's about like a softball but it only bounces about 50% of a regular tennis ball," said Jack Etchison, who runs the Junior Team Tennis program for Owensboro Daviess County Tennis Association. "This is red ball, orange ball, green dot ball, then green ball. Once they get to the green ball, the regular ball, they don't ever want to go back."
"I liked the red ball," Gabrielle said. "It was easy to hit."
Vera Hayden has several tennis players in her family.
Her older sister, Olivia, just finished her Owensboro Catholic career by advancing to the round of 16 in the KHSAA State Tennis Tournament with doubles partner Aisha Merchant.
"I watched her play a lot, at state and in high school," Vera said. Vera's doubles partner is usually Jenna Faulkner, who was out of town this week. "I like doubles, I'm just better at doubles. I'm better at communicating out there. I'm pretty good at forehands, but I can put more strength into my backhand. I like playing at the net."
Etchison said Vera was a good net player, and the 10-year-old has been playing for five years. Like most junior tennis players, they're not big on practicing serves.
"Every time I say, 'Let's practice serves,' you guys always say, 'Let's not,' " Etchison said. "Do we need to practice serves? Yes. Do we want to? No. Let's hit forehands."
