Even in the dog days of summer, one teacher of tennis is showing Camp Verde kids how it’s played.
“Each of these kids have certain things they’re great at,” said tennis pro Jeff Cooper, who gives lessons withthe Camp Verde Parks and Recreation Department. “Each of them kind of deserves particular credit for different things they do well.”
Twelve children, ages 8 through 12, show up and practice their skills at the Butler Park tennis courts from Rimrock, Cornville and even Cottonwood as well as Camp Verde at 5:30 p.m. late summer Thursday afternoons.
“In the summer, we skew later to avoid the heat,” Cooper said. “The times in the fall will be completely different from the summer.”
Those classes, he added, are tentatively scheduled to begin at 3:50 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, after his summer students conclude their lessons Thursday, July 31.
“Kids get out of school, eat a little bit, then go to tennis. Everyone seemed to agree those were the best times,” Cooper said. “With the whole school calendar switching to a four-day week, I’m going to get in touch with everybody’s parents to let me know their schedule and set up the best match.”
While most of the students’ hour is spent drilling, the students work on “just about every skill appropriate for their age level,” Cooper explained, such as “forehand, backhand, serves, overheads, shot combinations, approach shot and volley.”
They do play some singles and doubles matches, but otherwise Cooper’s students are engaged in combination drills, such as “Power, Depth, Consistency” and “Master Volleyer,” in which they work on a particular aspect of their game.
Cooper said he has dozens of drills.
“Kids always seem to like challenges,” Cooper said. “They like values. ‘Power, Depth, Consistency’ is kind of a neat drill in which kids improve attributes of their ground strokes, forehand and backhand.”
So the drill is, in a sense, a game that keeps score, depending on if the ball hits the court, the net or the fence, or bounces. Point values are based on how deep and how consistently kids can hit the tennis ball.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, July 30, issue of the Camp Verde Journal.
