The team behind the free Campbell River School District Tennis Club is adding formal lessons to their offerings this summer.
Starting today (May 23), as part of the Campbell River Tennis Club, coach Brent Larmour and assistant coach Antoine Minfray will be offering a six-part series of lessons covering everything from the basics of the game right through to match strategy at Willow Point Park (behind the Sportsplex).
Larmour relaunched the School District (SD72) Tennis Club a couple of years ago when he moved back to town. He’d grown up right here in Campbell River at a time when tennis was much bigger than it was when he moved back, and he wanted to rejuvenate the tennis scene, so to speak.
“When I was growing up, lacrosse was huge, too, and then it kind of went away a bit for a while, and now it’s coming back, and I think tennis is like that, too. It’s riding a wave up. I’ve been told it’s one of the fastest growing sports in Canada,” Larmour says.
And now that the club is gaining some momentum, he says, he wanted to add actual lessons into the mix.
“After seeing the success of the SD72 club over the last few years I wanted to continue the promotion of the game,” he says. The SD72 club has around 90 kids signed up this year, including 50 playing for free in the elementary program, so he put in a proposal through the Campbell River Junior Tennis Club to start lessons, and they accepted his proposal.
“As part of the proposal, I felt it was important to keep the cost modest for the CR Junior Club as I’ve always promoted tennis as a reasonable sport that can be played anywhere,” he says. “I always tell kids, you only need 2 people, 2 racquets a few balls, 30-45 minutes and you’ll find courts everywhere. I’ve travelled to a lot of different countries and I’ve played tennis in almost all of them. I truly believe in a wonderful lifelong hobby and I want to see kids learn to proper form and techniques, have fun and learn a new hobby.”
So for $30, parents can sign their kids up for all six sessions in the series.
Lessons for the Grades 2-5 students will be Thursdays from 4:15 to 5:15, with Grades 6-12 students taking the court on Tuesdays at the same time.
Anyone interested in registering is encouraged to contact Paul Jennings with the CR Tennis Club at 250-923-6161.