Every Tuesday in the SPAN gym, “community champion” Casey Enriquez holds no-charge tennis lesson for beginners and advanced players of all ages as part of a larger initiative by Tennis Canada to help grow the game of tennis all across the country.
Tennis Alberta selected the St. Paul Tennis Club, in partnership with Tennis Canada, to participate in a brand new program called “Building Tennis Communities” (BTC) in 2009. Enriquez volunteered for the position of “community champion.” His role in the program is to help encourage more people, especially youths, to play tennis in St. Paul and to have them move through the “Tennis Pathway.”
“This is actually a new program, especially with the new participants to the game of tennis, and it’s an opportunity to combine practice and play,” said Enriquez. “I give them basic tennis lessons to start with and after that I make it fun and interesting with games focusing on their skill and development in match play.”
The BTC program started in 2001 and has engaged over 315,000 people in tennis activities in over 100 communities across Canada.
Every Tuesday at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. around 20-30 players come to the SPAN gym to receive tips and training from Enriquez. He teaches the fundamentals of tennis: how to hold a racquet properly and how to control the ball. Player’s train with modified, progressive tennis equipment including smaller or modified nets, modified racquets and modified balls. The balls used are considered low bouncing balls and are designed to help beginners control the ball better.
“Tennis Canada believes that once a new participant starts playing using regular balls it’s hard to for them to control the balls because they’re high bouncing balls,” said Enriquez.
Enriquez, along with Tennis Alberta, is hoping that the program will catch fire across the province, but Enriquez realizes that he has to work around the popularity of other sports.
“We are trying to push tennis in the community in hopes of expanding it to the surrounding communities like Elk Point, Bonnyville and as far as Cold Lake,” said Enriquez. “Tennis is not a big thing here, it’s hockey, soccer and football. That’s why Tennis Canada has this initiative to get this progressive tennis to expand to all communities all over Canada.”
This is the second year the program has been done in St. Paul but it is already facing its share of struggles, as Enriquez has had difficulty in finding a permanent tennis instructor. Enriquez is a registered renal nurse at the St. Paul Health Centre. So far he says nobody has stepped up to take the job.
“So far we can only do it once a week. I hope somebody can come in and do it maybe twice a week but I’m working and it’s hard,” said Enriquez. “ But it’s interesting to know that I have these numbers, 30 participants to start with and I hope I have more in the summer.”
Tennis Canada has taken notice of the program’s turnout as an instructor from Tennis Canada is set to travel to St. Paul and hold a three-hour teaching course on Sunday.
Anyone looking to improve tennis skills can attend the course at the SPAN gym.
