York Tennis Club held the inaugural Boys Grand Slam Camp from 3rd – 4th October, which was proudly sponsored by the D’Arcy Slater Foundation. The camp attracted 15 boys, aged between 10 – 15 years old, and represented six country towns within the Central Districts Zone. All attending players had varying levels of tennis experience, training history and knowledge of the ‘Grand Slam’ journey – yet all had the desire to improve and learn more about our game.
Tennis West staff and camp coaches, Ardian Fazliu, Paul Oldfield, Brett Marshall and Jason Marrable lead the group to develop their leadership qualities and resilience through a number of activities during the camp.
Day 1 had the most instore for our players with camp philosophy introductions, ‘Player Handbook’ tutorial, on-court coaching sessions, a nutrition workshop and our first Tennis West Amazing Race at Mount Bakewell. The Amazing Race, in particular, was a highlight for both players and coaches as the entire group was challenged to scale Mount Bakewell (York), prioritise and complete a variety of testing challenges all while working and communicating as a team.
All on-court coaching sessions incorporated elite body management principles, with a resistance-band warm up routine, dynamic movement, tennis-specific hitting routine and finally a stretching sequence. Our aim was to educate our regional players on the importance of these body management principles to prevent injury and increase recovery between sessions.
To end the day, we presented The Amazing Race winning team, coaches debriefed the group to outline the moments/individuals that highlighted our camp themes – resilience and leadership, and finally all enjoyed a sporting movie centred around our camp themes.
Day 2 built on the success of the previous day to see our players compete in a variety of formats. The day began with a group fitness activity and quickly progressed into a consistency and intensity-based coaching session. The camp concluded with a Davis Cup-style tournament, with players exhibiting the same fighting spirit that characterises the Australian tennis legacy.
Our presentation ceremony was attended by friends, family and Christina Slater, of the D’Arcy Slater Foundation, who spoke to the group on D’Arcy’s legacy and passion for the sport of tennis. We would like to thank the D’Arcy Slater Foundation for their continued support for tennis in regional WA.
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