Lae revives tennis with junior programme

TENNIS in Lae has been idle for over a decade and is now being revived with a junior programme run every Saturday from 3.30pm to 5.30pm at the Lae Chinese Club.
The programme is now into its second year and is thankful to the club for allowing the courts to be used for junior development.
President Glenn Cabasug told The National that more than 80 children had registered to participate in the programme and with his wife, their goal was to help promote the sport, especially to the juniors at no cost.
“We decided to make it free so that it is accessible to lot of children because we had more than 10 years of no junior programmes here,” Cabasug said. “Starting at the early age of three years, it is all about learning to control, watch the ball and hitting over the net.
“It’s nothing about power at this stage as I try not to teach the power yet. It’s all about getting a good rally over the net, target, coordinate and control.”
He said children were divided into age groups with the younger ones using the red balls which are lighter. The older age groups use orange and green balls.
Cabasug said a lot of children who participated last year were now on green level and were being taught basic top spin, forehand, top-spin backhand.
“The whole goal here is that children are able to learn the basics and develop different skills needed for tennis,” he said. “I’ve being encouraging them that the ultimate goal here is that one day they’ll become good at the sport.”
Cabasug is the only coach at the moment and is assisted by parents in doing in promoting the sport. The have created a Facebook page, ‘Lae Tennis Club PNG’, where one can find the club’s activities.