Holiday Park clinic offers affordable tennis training

By DON CRINKLAW | Forum Publishing Group
November 6, 2008

Every Tuesday and Thursday evening, fewer than a dozen preteens walk onto the courts at George English Park in Fort Lauderdale for a relentless and grueling workout. It's part of a tennis clinic organized by Jimmy Evert Tennis Center called High Performance, which has been running for about a year.

The players act like they're having the time of their lives.

Tennis coach Jennifer Wiley, who has been drilling the group since the beginning, describes the High Performance program as top-level training for gifted young players without the high fees other tennis academies charge. In fact, the High Performance program only charges $25 a session.

"The kids who come here are screened," Wiley said. "They have to be tournament players ... [and] they're all ranked high in the state."

Additionally, all the players are girls too, a fact that Wiley explains is unintentional. Boys are certainly welcome, she said. On a recent Tuesday, with the day's heat broken, Wiley warmed up the group by standing on one of the park's seven courts tossing them balls she took from a wheeled basket by her side. The girls took turns charging the net and whacking the balls right back at her.

Then the pressure got cranked up. Nigerian-born coach T.J. Urhobo, in mirror shades and a safari hat, called four of the girls to an adjoining court. He ordered them "all the way back," up against the chain-link fence, and called their names while serving the ball to them in turn.

"This was a deep-ball drill," he said. "I make sure their eye is on the ball."

Urhobo also studied each player's footwork, making sure speed control was worked into the game.

Meanwhile, Wiley worked with others in a "deep forehand" drill. Players had to get to the ball and hit it back before it touched the ground. One by one, players rushed to the net, trying to time it just right. The exercises continued, with only a short break halfway through the session.

Emily Troeneveld of Fort Lauderdale seemed to handle the strain easily.

"I like tennis because it has a lot of fast moves," she said. "I like to move and run, and I'm competitive."

The two-hour workout concluded with set of doubles-play. The girls played with intense focus, concentration and determination.

"If they stay healthy they should be able to play on scholarships at good colleges," Wiley said. "And these girls practice as hard as anybody."

For information about Jimmy Evert Tennis Center's High Performance program call 954-828-5378.

source: sun sentinal

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