Dangar Park Tennis Centre hosted a fun-filled and action-packed holiday clinic late last year as the local junior players farewelled 2023 in style.
Running from Monday, December 18, to Thursday, December 21, there were testing conditions to work with, but the Narrabri Tennis head coach Shane Murphy and his four assistant coaches ensured that the week was a successful one.
“We had a bit of everything,” Murphy told The Courier.
“It was 40 degrees on the first day, it was windy the second day, then it rained on the third day.
“There were the fires around too, but despite all of that, we had really good attendance and we had good programs in place with the help of our coaches, and it was all good fun.
“That’s always the best part. The kids get on the court and get to learn all of the basics of tennis, but it’s always all about having some fun.”
Day one of the clinic saw the juniors learn basic ball skills and focus on their forehands and rallying, and then on day two they were put through forehand revision and progressed to backhands.
Day three was heavily focussed on serving and matchplay, and then day four saw the junior players sharpen their skills at the net through volley practice.
Assisting Murphy during the week were junior coaches Jack Hartnett, Ava Garbutt, George Bennett and Lily Campbell.
Murphy said that the clinic was the perfect way to end the year, as was the Narrabri Tennis Kids’ Christmas Party at the same venue earlier in the month on Friday, December 8, which he said was well-attended and was a fun afternoon.
There is another action-packed year in store for Narrabri Tennis players, which includes a mixture of training, clinics and tournaments.
The next holiday clinic will run next week from Monday to Thursday, and it will be the highly-anticipated 2024 Australian Open holiday program.
There will be prizes up for grabs at that clinic as the build up to the 2024 Australian Open ramps up.
The first North West Tennis Regional Matchplay Series event will be held in Armidale on Sunday, February 11.
Narrabri will host two tournaments this year, the first on Sunday, May 5, and the second on Sunday, August 18.
Narrabri Tennis coaching will start on Monday, February 12.
