Tennis heats up! Kids having a ball

The Hot Shots program is designed for novice players aged between 5 and 7.

The kids learn the fundamentals of tennis on small courts with low compression tennis balls. Minor games and skills are combined in the 40-minute sessions designed to keep the kids entertained whilst learning new skills.

The kids really enjoyed their first morning under the tutorage of current Club Champion Lucy Bassett and assistants Emily Linehan, Demi Rhodes, Hayley Bennett and Tess Bassett.

The assistance of parents for this program is essential and it was great to see everyone getting involved.

The coaching program is the next step on the Saturday morning coaching journey and is aimed at players between the ages of 7 and 11.

Club coach Greg Duns oversees this area and he has had to be very creative with around 25 players in each group.

As usual Greg will design programs that are both entertaining and appropriate for player development. With gun juniors Jack Bassett, Laynee Rhodes, Ian Dimble, Xavier Chessells and Elli Buerckner also lending their knowledge to this program, it is evident that these juniors will rapidly improve.

The number of players participating in matches has reached an unprecedented level. There are 94 names currently on the list and on Saturday there simply weren’t enough courts. Organisers will be creative around match play and ensure that everyone is catered for.

The players that will play matches were part of a fun game of ‘Up and Down the River’ that ensured everyone in attendance hit a maximum amount of balls whilst they were there.

With many kids starting off a little rusty, it didn’t take long for rallies to become longer with some awesome shots being played.

Whilst the numbers for the Saturday junior program have been overwhelming, the club has taken positive steps by ensuring there is a lot of coaches to ensure as many balls are hit each morning as possible.

There are still positions available in the 10.20 Hot Shots and coaching groups and anyone interested is encouraged to contact Greg Duns, Lisa Linehan or Jason Bassett as soon as possible to join the fun.

A junior squad program will soon commence on a Wednesday afternoon. Squad is overseen by experienced Club Coach Greg Duns. Greg provides a range of drills to ensure stroke and tactical development.

Greg and his coaching team also provide junior group coaching sessions on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.

These sessions are great fun and to improve at tennis it is recommended that a weekday practice session coupled with Saturday morning match play is a perfect combination.

For younger players the more tennis sessions the kids do the better they become.

Wilby Tennis competition

Round one of the Wilby and District Tennis Association commenced on the weekend. It was fantastic to see all of the teams back on the court.

With a mixture of youth and experience in all teams, each encounter is played in great spirits.

Burramine hosted Tungamah Green on the fantastic Yarrawonga courts. Both teams were filled with juniors and some substitutions were made to ensure everyone in the vicinity had a hit.

Tungamah’s men showed their strength to win 5 sets to 1 with veterans Josh Buerckner and Tom Wren leading the way with 3 wins.

In the ladies it was much closer with the sets shared 3 apiece before with Burramine winning on games. Young gun Tess Bassett was best on court with three victories.

The mixed sets were also split 2 each with Tungamah winning by 2 games. Overall Tungamah Green won by 6 games, taking the night 6 points to 2 points.

Lonsdale Reserve was packed to the rafters with the battle of Mulwala taking place. Mulwala Gold got the early jump in the mens section with Damian Cook undefeated leading the way to win 4 sets to 2.

Mulwala Maroon fought back in the ladies to win 4 sets to 2 with Vanessa Norman winning all her matches.

Mulwala Gold won the mixed section 3 sets to 1. Indicating how close the night was both teams finished on 69 games. Mulwala Gold on points 5 to 3.

Wilby visited Tungamah Gold to renew their friendly rivalry on the banks of the Boosey Creek. Wilby’s men consisting of Jarryd Fountain, Will Prescott, Craig Prescott and Russell Whinray started strongly winning all 6 sets.

Tungamah Gold bounced back in the ladies section to win 5 sets on the back of Tungamah legend Debbie Hayes winning 3 matches.

All of the mixed matches were close with Wilby winning 3 of the sets. Overall Wilby won by 20 games and claimed the night 6 points to 2.

Reigning premiers Telford made the trip to Savernake on Saturday afternoon. Telford’s men continue to be very strong and they won 5 sets to 1 with Craig Stevenson and Andrew Banks winning each set.

Their ladies consisting of Angela Mitchell, Sandra Banks, Emma Pearce and Laura Nunn were in great form to win all of their sets. Telford finished the with 3 wins in the mixed sets and a 39 game win overall. Telford claiming all 8 points.

After round 1 the ladder is Telford 8, Tungamah Green 6, Wilby 6, Mulwala Gold 5, Mulwala Maroon 3, Tungamah Gold 2, Burramine 2, Savernake 0.

This week Tungamah Green host Mulwala Gold, Telford will take on Burramine, Savernake will make the trek to Wilby and Mulwala Maroon will welcome Tungamah Gold.

Pickleball trial

On Saturday morning Pickleball was introduced to Yarrawonga for the first time. Pickleball is a combination of many racquet sports and is played on a smaller court.

The club was very fortunate to have Melbourne Pickleball coach Peter Hubble lead the sessions.

It was fantastic to see the participants enjoying themselves and the interest level has certainly ensured there will be further similar sessions and potentially a competition in the very near future.

Goulburn Murray Tennis

The Goulburn Murray Tennis Association commenced round 1 on Saturday. Local clubs Numurkah and Cobram have been very generous in the support of Yarrawonga players keen to play at a higher standard.

In Division 1 it was the replay of last year’s Grand Final as Numurkah took on Nathalia with both sides looking very different, Nathalia took some revenge to win 9 sets to 3.

Jack Bassett and Tess Bassett both won their singles matches. Locals Lucy Bassett and Ash Wheaton both played well but couldn’t secure a win.

In Division 2 Cobram hosted new team McEwen Reserve. McEwen indicated they are going to be very competitive defeating last year’s premiers 6 sets to 5. Daryl Bennett and Hayley Bennett each won 2 sets.

Thursday Ladies competition

The Thursday Ladies teams competition will commence on October 24. If anyone is interested please contact Gert Brunner or Narelle Bassett.

Teams are created from individual names entered. This ensures that opponents are evenly matched and new players can easily find a team to play in.

The competition organisers are having two shorter seasons suit the needs of the ladies playing. The number of the ladies has been significantly higher than the past and with entries closing on October 17 it is hoped even more players will enter.

Tuesday Mens Tennis

The Tuesday Mens competition will begin on Tuesday November 8. Organiser Ash Wheaton has commenced taking names and is keen to hear from any new players that might be interested in playing.

Entries are made individually with evenly matched teams created. The season runs until early March and is always great fun.

Rock up and play sessions

The YLTC holds social aggregate style tennis at four different times during the week. Each of these events provide the opportunity for new players to come and trial tennis prior to committing to becoming a member.

The main aggregate night is Friday night and this night will commence after the Melbourne Cup weekend.

Other times where anyone can simply sign-in on the day are Saturday at 1pm for all players, Tuesday morning commencing at 9.30 for ladies and Wednesday at 1pm for mens social hit.

There is no compulsion to attend each of these on a weekly basis although once you have tried it once it will be hard to not keep going back.