Good things take time for ageless Hegan
A desire to play tennis with her children has eventually led to 49-year-old Jan Hegan’s selection in the Southland team for the Southern Districts teams event in Dunedin on Saturday.
The Te Anau Tennis Club player will make her representative debut this weekend, despite only playing the game competitively for the last three seasons.
Some recent good form, including an improvement in her game in the last season, was the catalyst for her selection.
The mother of three was comfortably beaten last season by Town’s Lea Mulvey in her debut in the Town vs Country fixtures, but fast forward a year and she picked up an upset thrilling win over Southland representative player Lynn Millar.
‘‘It was a really good result, It was a learning experience,’’ she said.
Hegan also beat her brother recently and will be hoping to continue her purple patch.
‘‘I was quite happy with that one, he is one I have been aiming for,’’ she said.
She is excited, but nervous about being selected to represent her province.
‘‘I am just out there doing my thing, I have been lucky enough to be selected, I am pretty happy about it. I did think they would take some young things before me,’’ she said.
‘‘I am going to go out there and have fun and do my best, that is all I can do.
‘‘I will rock up on the day and hopefully I have done enough to keep up.’’
Hegan discovered a passion for the sport later in life after first picking up a racket as a youngster.
‘‘My 21-year-old got me into it for a starter, I wanted to keep up with him and then I realised how much I loved the game when I was a kid and started getting some coaching,’’ she said.
‘‘I just love it and we do it as a family, it is awesome.
‘‘I am just out there doing my thing, I am just enjoying it, I am not worrying too much about results.’’
She is part of the thriving Te Anau tennis community, which has seen the local club grow from six members to more than 100 in the space of five years, along with staging one of the biggest tournaments in the country, the Te Anau Tennis Invitational.
The Southland team also includes Kerryn Maynard from Te Anau, in a combination which includes plenty of country-based players.
‘‘It is doing really well, we have got a good group of adults heading it and a good tennis coach and the kids are loving it. It is great exercise isn’t it and it is not an expensive sport to get into,’’ she said.
Hegan competes in the Northern Southland competition in one of Te Anau’s three adult teams, against rural clubs like Riversdale, Balfour and Lumsden.
The former Riverton resident enjoys the strategy of doubles and loves to learn new things to improve her game.
The ex-Southland high jump representative enjoys most sports, but would have relished coaching from a young age, but is making up for it now.
‘‘We didn’t have much coaching when we were kids, it just wasn’t what you did back then, we lived on a farm, it took a while to get into town,’’ she said.
Her niece is New Zealand touch representative Trisha Hopcroft, who has been giving her aunty some advice.
‘‘I have been taking tips off her, hopefully they will pan out,’’ Hegan said.