Growing the Maui Tennis Community

Quinn Shapiro

Junior Seminar

Ms. Lindsey, Ms. Wilson

1 October 2009
 Preface

When I first started playing tennis, I loved going to tournaments, meeting new people,

and playing different opponents. Having many different people to practice with is vital in

improving your skills and enjoying the game. As I got older, I noticed that there were less people

playing. I especially noticed a lack of young competitive players, which made me worry about

the future of the sport on Maui. I have always wanted to not only give back to the community

that has in part raised me, but also ensure that there will be a community of tennis players on

Maui for many years to come.

I have always loved going to tennis camps, meeting new friends, and playing as much

tennis as I could. When I was about eleven years old, I went to a camp that motivated me to take

tennis to the next level. By training harder, I was given opportunities that allowed me to form

life-long relationships with other competitive players and also develop moral values such as

honesty, respect, and hard-work. I think that there is no better way to motivate kids than a tennis

camp.

I want to direct a tennis camp that introduces kids to tennis in a fun and competitive way.

The camp will be five days long for three hours every day. My target age is from eight to twelve

years old. I will mix drills, games, and competitive points to keep the kids interested. I want to

motivate them to continue playing after the camp and maybe even take it to a competitive level.

Idea Proposal
Driving Question

How can I grow the Maui tennis community by encouraging younger kids to get

interested in tennis?

Goals

Every time that I go to a junior tennis tournament, I see less young kids coming to play. I

want to inspire a love for tennis so that kids will continue playing throughout their lives. I am

also hoping to help improve their game. Seeing yourself improve is a great way to motivate

yourself. My goal is to have around twenty kids in my camp every day, so that I can reach as

many of them as possible.

Key Knowledge

I need to learn about effective ways to teach younger children and what I am going to

teach them that will help improve their tennis. Effective coaching is the most important thing

when it comes to a player’s development. A good coach can teach a player a month’s worth of

training in only a week. I will also need to learn about good nutrition and good exercises to

improve physical fitness. Fitness is one of the key aspects that separates the top players from the

mediocre players. Someone who can endure three hours of playing will always defeat someone

with less fitness in a longer match.

I will also need to learn about effective communication skills. This is because I will be

communicating with tennis clubs, staff, and campers’ parents. Without organized

communication, this project would be impossible.

21st Century Skills

according to plan and I will have to come up with solutions very quickly if I want my project to

be successful. For instance, if I can’t get the courts at a certain tennis club, I will need to find

another option for courts. A lot of problem solving will have to be done during the camp as well

due to having to look over twenty little kids. I think this project will greatly improve my quick

problem solving skills and also more long term problem solving skills.

Communication skills will also be key for my project. I will have to communicate

effectively with tennis clubs if I want them to take me seriously. I will also need to contact all of

the staff and make sure that they are in the loop with everything that’s going on. Communication

with the campers is also very important, including answering any questions they might have.

Limitations

I might have a tough time figuring out where I am going to do the tennis camp. It can be

expensive to reserve courts, especially for more than one day, so I will have to talk to the tennis

clubs early to ensure that I can get courts for a low or free price. I also might have trouble getting

kids to sign up for the camp, so I will have to start advertising early for my camp.

Methodology

I will take videos of the camp that show drills, games, and points that the kids played. I

will also try to video the kids’ improvement over the week. I will then edit the footage into a

short documentary of the camp.

Annotated Bibliography
Coaching, Online Tennis. “Tennis Coaching - Your Checklist for Running a Profitable Tennis

Camp.” Tennis Drills, Training and Tennis Coaching, 19 Jan. 2011,

http://www.globaltenniscoaching.com/public/Tennis_Coaching__Your_Checklist_for_Runnin

g_a_Profitable_Tennis_Camp.cfm.

This website contains information about how to run a successful tennis camp. I talks

about certain things that you will need to prepare before the tennis camp, such as making sure

you have enough courts and enough staff. It also provides info on what you will need on the

day of the camp, such as extra rackets, tennis balls, and fitness equipment. Another important

thing that the article talks about is administrative tasks, such as getting all the campers

emergency info and making sure their parents pick them up at the end of the day.

This websites authors include David Horne, who played on the professional tour for four

years and coached at one of the top clubs in the country, Tina Dodd, who has worked

alongside people like Wimbledon semi finalist Roger Taylor, and other people who have been

involved in tennis their whole lives.

This website gives me crucial information on the logistics of running a tennis camp. This

info is vital to directing a successful camp because it helps to keep the kids safe and helps to

make me more prepared. This will improve the overall experience at the tennis camp, which

will encourage kids to continue playing.

Essential Tennis - Lessons and Instruction for Passionate Players. YouTube, YouTube, 6 Apr.

2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTCX2RpN-vM.
 This source is about tennis drills that are perfect for beginners, which means they are not

too difficult to perform but can greatly improve technique and confidence. It goes over drop-

feeding, different movement drills, footwork drills, fitness drills, and control drills.

The source is Essential Tennis, which provides top level instruction for any level of

player. They have been featured in many credible websites, such as forbes, the Tennis

Channel, and even the United States Tennis Association.

I can use the information in this video(along with other videos from Essential Tennis) to

improve the drills that I give to the kids. This will help them to stay focused and enhance their

tennis games, in turn motivating them to continue playing tennis.

Gallwey, W. Timothy. The Inner Game of Tennis. Random House, 1974.

This book is about more efficient ways of teaching and learning. It also provides insight on

the mental side of sports, especially tennis. Timothy Gallwey gives his thoughts on how to

improve in tennis much faster, and also how to get yourself into the right competitive

mindset.

Tim Gallwey is an esteemed tennis player and coach. He captained the Harvard tennis team

back in 1960, and after went on to coach in California. This book is targeted mainly at tennis

players who may be struggling to make progress or not performing well in competitive

settings. However, his methodologies can be used in any type of learning or competitive

sport.

I want to lead a tennis camp for kids, which means that I will have to learn how to coach.

Reading this book will help prepare me to be able to teach in a more effective and efficient
 way. One thing that roped me into tennis was that I could see myself improving, and by

having better coaching methods, the kids in my camp will be able to improve more quickly.

Seeing their improvement will hopefully motivate them to continue playing tennis and

possibly take it to a competitive level, which is part of the solution of my driving question.

Schilling, Leslie. “Don't Let Your Young Athlete Make These Nutrition Mistakes.” U.S. News

& World Report, U.S. News & World Report, https://health.usnews.com/wellness/for-

parents/articles/2019-04-11/sports-nutrition-for-kids.

This article is about how easy it is to make mistakes with your nutrition and how

important it is to fix these mistakes. It talks about pre-workout meals, post-workout meals,

snacks that you should be eating throughout the day, and hydration.

Leslie Schilling is a registered dietitian, nutrition therapist, and sport nutritionist. Her

target audience are parents who are looking for ways to better prepare their kids for sports.

Part of running a 3-5 hour camp for little kids is making sure that they have the fuel to

keep them going. I want to be able to provide them with healthy food options, make sure they

are well fed, keep them hydrated throughout the day, and also teach them about better

nutrition for sports. Having energy on the court makes tennis a lot more fun, which might

make the kids want to keep playing.

Tennis Tactics: Winning Patterns of Play. Human Kinetics, 1996.

This book has a massive amount of drills and patterns that top level professionals use,

and that can be used by players at any level. The book talks about drills to improve all parts of
 your game including serve, return, groundstrokes, and volleys. It also provides the best

patterns(where and how you should hit the ball) for any situation imaginable.

This book was written by the United States Tennis Association, which is probably the

most credible source for information on tennis. The USTA has helped train many of the best

players in the world, including Frances Tiafoe(#45 in the world).

The information in this book will give me drills that I can give to the kids and also

patterns that I can teach them that they will use in matchplay. This will allow the kids to play

at a much higher level and help them win many more matches, further motivating them to

continue tennis.

Wilstead, Patricia. Personal Interview. 12 September. 2019.

Ms. Wilstead, or Coach Trish, has been coaching tennis clinics since before I even started

playing. For as long as I can remember, she has held public lessons for little kids every

Wednesday and Friday. She has a lot of knowledge on how to engage and focus little kids, fun

drills, and effective ways of coaching beginning level players.

Coach Trish has the same vision that I do: to grow the Maui tennis community. She has been

pursuing this vision for longer than I have been playing (in fact, she was one of the coaches who

developed my love for tennis). I think that having someone to talk to who has the same vision as

me, and who has years of experience pursuing that vision, will be very helpful to answer my

driving question.

Resources and Activities

Resources
 The two main resources that I am going to need are people to staff the tennis camp, and

courts that we are going to play on. I have already got some of my friends willing to help coach

and watch over the kids, such as Hobbes Wilstead and Jared Pardo, who is my partner for the

project. Having an adult monitoring would also be helpful to watch the kids and give parents

more trust in the camp. To reserve tennis courts for the camp, I am going to contact Wailea

Tennis Club, who will hopefully allow us to use some of their courts for a percentage of the

profit. If they do not, I will contact the County and fundraise money to reserve courts. I will also

need equipment, such as extra rackets, tennis balls, cones, etc. Energy drinks and snacks will also

be needed for the camp.

Budget

● Snacks: A pack of 15 granola bars costs about $8, so for 20 kids for 5 days(1 every day,

this would equal about $50.

● The amount of energy drink powder that would be needed for a five day camp(about 5

gallons, or one gallon per day), would cost about $25.

● The courts will most likely be free, or just take a percentage of what the tennis camp

makes, so I will not need to raise money beforehand.

● All of the staff have volunteered to work for free.

● I already have the equipment required, such as balls and extra rackets, so there is no cost

for that either.

● $50 for emergency cost

per day for a camper, so if I can get twenty kids per day, the profit should be around $3500.

Minus the court fee, I should still have plenty to cover the budget.

Timeline

September

● Look for sources concerning coaching tennis, teaching young kids, and running tennis

camps.

● Schedule faculty interview

● Conduct Faculty Interview

● Schedule Expert Interview

● Conduct expert interview

● Complete Project Proposal

October

● Contact Wailea Tennis club about reserving courts Commented [1]: Have you found out their number
yet? Or is that the part about the percentage of the
profit of the camp?
● If they can’t, contact the county about reserving courts

● Set dates for the tennis camp

● Contact people to help staff the tennis camp

● Do any fundraising needed

● Start to spread the word about the tennis camp

November
 ● Confirm reserved courts

● Prepare schedules for the days, including drills, games, etc.

● Start advertising more heavily for the camp, by social media, email, and direct contacts

● Confirm all of the staff for the dates, and prep them with the schedules

December

● Final advertising for camp

● Confirm one more time with staff and reserved courts

● Go over schedules with staff again and refine them

● Get all emergency info for the campers

● Purchase all food and energy drinks needed for the five days

● Camp Begins(Most likely December 30)

● Video the camp

● Give players feedback etc.

● Camp ends(Most likely January 3)

January

● Sort out the money for the court reservations(if they required a percentage of profit)

● Donate rest of profit to charity

● Compile all of the video into a documentary, showing drills, games, and progression of

players

● Work on and complete final presentation for the project

On Friday, September 13 my partner Jared Pardo and I conducted our faculty interview

with Mrs. Martinez. She does soccer camps with little kids all the time, so we thought she would

be the perfect person to interview. We asked her about how to keep the campers focused and

healthy. She thought that having short segments kept the kids interested. She also recommended

to constantly keep their attention by doing chants like, “One, two, three, eyes on me!” She told

us that she thought that the days shouldn’t be any longer than three hours for the age that we are

targeting.

We also asked her how much we should charge for a day of the camp. She thought that

for three hours, $30 seemed reasonable, plus expenses for snacks and drinks. She also thought

that around one to six is a good staff to camper ratio. She also gave us some good advice on how

to advertise the camp. She thought that word-of-mouth is probably the most effective advertising

for a camp like this.