Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tennis camp wraps up season
Young players persevere in heat, humidity to hone skills
BELLA VISTA — It’s not the heat; it’s the humidity. Junior tennis players learned the truth of that statement last week at the latest session of the Property Owners Association’s Junior Tennis Camp.
The temperature that week wasn’t so bad, Kailey Yankey said, but the humidity made all the young tennis players sweat.
Yankey plays tennis with the Bentonville West team as well as in the United State Tennis Association league.
One of the coaches helping with tennis camps is Hunter Alexander, who coaches Yankey and other campers at West High School.
The numbers were about the same this year as last year, tennis pro Jake Shoemake said. There were about 17 players enrolled in the last session that took place last week. The first session was a little larger. Tennis camp is open for kids from 6 to 17 years old and the groups are divided by age.
They all start with drills in the morning, Shoemake said. Lunch is catered in by Papa Mike’s. After lunch, campers spend about an hour on the courts and then chose between swimming in the nearby Kingsdale Pool or playing matches on the tennis courts.
The young kids almost always chose swimming, Shoemake said, but the older ones like the chance to play in matches.
Ayden Maravich, another West High player, said he started tennis when he didn’t make the basketball team in junior high. Last year, he was on both the basketball team and the tennis team. The camp, he said, will help him prepare for the high school tennis season.
Macayla Sullivan said her father coaches tennis, so choosing her sport wasn’t difficult. She also plays on an “elite” team for the USTA and West High.
Tennis, like golf, is open to nonmembers, but they pay a higher fee, Shewmake said.