Wednesday 30 April 2014

April College Tennis Recap

Here is a college tennis update on Manitoba student athletes currently playing in the U.S. as part of NCAA programs.

Feel free to share, like, retweet, favorite or add comment to show your support.































Get more Manitoba student-athlete #CollegeTennis updates on Twitter.

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Clinic introduces elementary students to tennis

Carman Elementary students enjoyed their introductory tennis lessons from Tennis Manitoba instructor Marlon Goldburn. Here, he talks to them about safety and the importance of not waving your racket around when you don't need to.

Courtesty of Emily Distefano, The Carman Valley Leader

Carman Elementary School students were treated to a 2-day tennis clinic last week.

CES’s physical education specialist Gordon Stobbe found out through Tennis Manitoba that they were offering school clinics as a way to introduce grassroots tennis to communities, and he thought it would be a great opportunity for Carman kids.

“I think that tennis can be a lifetime sport and it’s a great way for kids just to try a new skill,” he said. “We’ve got wonderful tennis courts that we don’t see an awful lot of kids on, so maybe this will be a seed-planting opportunity.”

Marlon Goldburn, a community development manager at Tennis Manitoba, came out on April 15 and 16 to teach students in grade one through six the fundamentals of the game.

“My goal in going around to communities like this is to plant that seed, to do my part for the Sport for Life model and add another notch of physical literacy to the kids’ knowledge base. And to help grow the general tennis population,” he said.

Progressive tennis model

He explained that Tennis Manitoba uses a progressive tennis model that includes modified equipment like smaller rackets, low-bounce balls, and mini nets.

“Fortunately for kids in this era, there is what we call progressive tennis equipment, like balls that bounce slower,” he said. “So they allow the kids to get to them and they’re not just hitting a green ball that a pro would use and spending half a day chasing it. It’s more constructive play.”

As players learn more skills, they can move up to more advanced equipment.

Stobbe would like to make the tennis clinic an annual event, and he is planning to add tennis to the physical education curriculum at CES next year.

“I want to add a tennis unit based on age and appropriateness and we want to have more tennis lessons introduced into our physical education curriculum,” he said.

He noted that Sport Manitoba provided some of the funding for the clinic, and the Manitoba Phys. Ed. Teachers Association gave the school a grant for some extra equipment.

Thursday 17 April 2014

Waschuk named to All-GLVC squad

Evann Waschuk of the Bellarmine University women's tennis
 team was named to the Great Lakes Valley Conference
All-Conference Team.

By Bellarmine University

ST. LOUIS--The Great Lakes Valley Conference announced its annual awards tonight at the GLVC Tennis Championship banquet on Thursday night, and Bellarmine women's tennis player Evann Waschuk was named to the All-Conference Team. The 16-member All-GLVC squad combines eight individuals from the East and West divisions.

Waschuk, a junior from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, put together an impressive resume during the 2013-14 regular season when she went 10-4 in singles and teamed with Michelle McFerran to post a 9-4 record in doubles.

Bellarmine opens GLVC Championship play Friday at noon as the No. 3 seed from the East and they will play Missouri-St. Louis, the West's No. 2 seed.

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Norwood Kids Team Tennis

Norwood Kids Team Tennis starts this May at the
Norwood Community Center in Winnipeg, MB.
The Norwood Community Center will be running a spring and fall team tennis program for kids aged 7 years of age up to 14 years old. The program takes place Monday evenings and starts early May, and runs until the end of June, then will recommence in September.

The program is specifically designed to introduce kids to playing tennis in a ‘learn to play – play to learn’ environment and is open to all levels of players. Modified equipment, including smaller racquets, larger balls and smaller court area will be used to help kids progress.

The program fee is only $40, and includes a cool T-shirt and some other goodies. For additional details, please contact Brian Pound at (204) 231-3383 or at bripou@shaw.ca.


Thursday 10 April 2014

Norwood Wheelchair Tennis Program


Tennis Manitoba along with Manitoba Wheelchair Sport Association will be hosting a wheelchair program for kids and adults at the Norwood Community Center. The program runs on Thursday evenings from 6:30 - 7pm, starting May 15th.

If you are interested in the wheelchair tennis program, or know someone that is, please contact Tennis Manitoba at (204) 925-5660 or info@tennismanitoba.com for additional details.