SANDPOINT, IDAHO TENNIS
Sandpoint has a great tennis community! Last week we hosted the 3rd annual Sandpoint Tennis Camp and it was the best yet! Jane Rockwell (USPTA teaching pro and former Sandpoint High School coach) and Mary Jo Lambert (current Clark Fork High School coach) once again put together a 1st-class Camp.
The Sandpoint Tennis Camp started out with a Monday rainout...a rare event in the middle of July in Sandpoint. I was the scheduled guest coach for Monday along with my good friends Tom Boulay (USPTA teaching pro from Minnesota) and Kent Stadum (USPTA teaching pro from Minnesota and 5.0 National champion). As the current Sandpoint High School coach, it was my reponsibility to make sure the first two days of the camp were high impact, fun and INTENSE. This year's Camp had the strongest group of players yet...we were REALLY looking forward to some tough tennis.
Our typical sunny, warm weather returned on Tuesday and remained the entire week. The three of us "attacked" the kids with 4 1/2 hours of drills. We had five pros on four courts (Boulay, Stadum, Mary Jo, Stadum's son Peter and myself) feeding balls and relentlessly working on tennis mechanics. I thought it went very well, but I was told following the day's drills that it may have been the best day of tennis any of the kids had ever experienced. Not bad.
On Wednesday we brought in Kai Fong, Lewis & Clark College tennis coach along with three of his players to feed balls and work with the kids. ...Another four hours of high intensity tennis. This was Kai's third year here in Sandpoint and he runs a GREAT WORKOUT. The last two days consisted of match play along with singles and doubles strategy.
Sandpoint currently has no indoor courts (but they are coming) and the high school must use the City public courts for practices and matches. Given these impediments to putting together a strong tennis program here, one would think that Sandpoint would have a huge hurdle to overcome to be competitive on the State level. Not true! The incredibly strong tennis community in Sandpoint along with the commitment extended by the many pros, recreational players and high school players themselves have created one of Idaho's strongest programs. Sandpoint earned 4th place at the State Tournament in Boise in 2009 and we are looking forward to improving on that in 2010. As my old coach use to tell me, "We don't rebuild, we RELOAD!"
If you are a tennis enthusiast, you WILL NOT be disappointed with a move to Sandpoint. We have every level of player here and we have fun!
If you are a buyer or a seller in the SANDPOINT area, please send me an email at ski7b@coldwellbanker.com. I would be happy to assist you!
Comments (4)Subscribe to CommentsComment