We’ve just finished the first two-week session of our summer tennis camp. 34 kids, aged 6-15 in four different levels, joined us. The quality of the camp was enhanced by our staff of four coaches, a camp coordinator, our groundskeeper and Shaul Zohar the director. The camp operated 5 days a week, from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
For most of the days they practiced tennis, including morning warm-up exercises and fitness. As the camp progressed, the “game” concept was introduced to the children and adjusted to their abilities.
Of course it wasn’t all tennis. There was time for the kids to be kids. There were movies with popcorn, lunchtime table tennis, and a watersport day, fun with treasure hunts and at the end-of-the-day popsicles.
Some of children at the camp were from the Embrace Program (youth-at-risk) who were not able to afford the registration fees. They were gladly accepted into the activities without charge.
On the day after the camp, there was the bonus of Davis Cup action as Israel hosted Slovenia. Because this was a tremendous opportunity for the children to watch world-class tennis in their own backyard, we took a busload of 45 kids, parents and coaches for the day-trip to Tel Aviv. Leading the Israeli team was Kiryat Shmona’s own Dudi Sela. Naturally, for the kids, Dudi represents what they can dream toward because he came from the very same courts on which our players grow.
Lately, the camp was joined by Mordechai Ross, a recent oleh chadash to Kiryat Shmona from Vancouver, Canada. He assisted in the on-court training sessions with the students by conducting drills in English. Our plans include having Mordechai join us in the fall when we will combine practical language lessons using tennis as the background.