Sudbury's junior tennis program adds new coaches

For two decades, the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre has been hosting junior tennis programs, but recently, it’s brought in more junior coaches to focus on further developing the youngsters' skills.

Around 60 kids between the ages of five and 16 take part in the junior tennis programs every Saturday.

There are now seven junior coaches teaching the kids, and for most, the tennis club is where they started.

"It’s a teaching experience, but even though you’re teaching, it’s still a learning experience for us because we only just got into it eight or nine months ago. So it’s a learning curve for us," said Luka Janicijevic, a junior coach with the program.

"As long as they can do the fundamentals, then honestly, that’s the best we can do to help them and encourage them to play even more later in life."

The centre told CTV News it has seen a significant increase in the amount of youth wanting to get involved in tennis ever since the pandemic began.

Student athletes play at Sudbury Indoor Tennis Court. June 4/22 (Molly Frommer/CTV Northern Ontario)

"I’ve been doing this for three weeks, but I found out this is what I love and it’s so fun here," said Narayan Shukla, who is part of the junior program.

"In the first week here, we learned about overhand serves and I found that the coaches were really helpful and supportive."

Officials with the centre said ever since bringing in more junior coaches, they’ve seen a lot of growth in the youth.

"One of the big initiatives that we’ve made is locking in one coach to every six kids. Previously, we could have one coach to 12, 18 kids and it’s just not manageable at all; and the quality of lessons was not there,” said Noah Albers, the executive director of the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre.

"Now, we’re locking it in one to six and it’s been amazing to see the development of these kids since then."

After playing high-level tennis in South Africa for 12 years and coaching for 20, Richard Bulbring was asked to be a part of the tennis centre.

Just eight weeks ago, he moved his family here and has been facilitating the junior tennis programs.

"With the junior program, it’s actually a privilege to have these youngsters come and assist us to teach the young kids," Bulbring said.

"I plan all the lessons and when coaches come in the morning, we go through what we’re going to do for the day and then we present it to the kids. My philosophy as a coach is fun first."

The next six-week junior program will begin in September.