The Liberty County youth tennis camp was held last week at Bradwell Institute. Sixteen campers ranging from late elementary school to late middle school showed up to practice their skills and learn the importance of teamwork and proper tennis techniques.
Coaches Robert Brown and Ken Scharnagl were on hand to reside over the camp and teach the kids the fundamentals of the game of tennis. Coach Scharnagl was credited for the one who started this program and he has high hopes for the game in the community. "Our hope is kids will enjoy learning tennis,” said Coach Scharnagl. "We want this event to promote tennis in the community. We want this to build tennis early in their lives so they can be competitive at the high school level."
Scharnagl is the head tennis coach at Bradwell Institute and is a PTR certified instructor with 10 years of experience.
Every day, the kids went through a consistent routine that involved warmups, stretches, strokes of the day, and drilling the skills they had learned that particular day.
The campers worked on forehand, backhand, volleys, and serves.
Many kids attending the camp expressed a tremendous amount of passion and enthusiasm and also have hopes that the skills they learn on the court will transition to other areas in their lives.
"I've learned the parts of the court and how to do a forehand and backhand," said Abigail Ryan, 12. "It's taught me how to communicate with others. This will help me because I plan on being on a tennis team and this will help me be a fairly good tennis player."
Other kids such as Faith Ryan, 13, shared similar sentiments about how the game of tennis will hopefully shape her foundation. "I've learned how to properly run around to get to the balls," said Ryan. "It's help me be more physically active. I hope to be good at tennis and it's a good chance for me to be more active."
Allie Croon, 14, was also on hand to help the coaches out and both of them as well as the event itself taught her many different skills beyond the basics. "I've learned to be more patient with kids," said Croon.
As for the coaches, "They've taught me everything I've learned, so it's pretty amazing."