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College
Week Camp is a Huge Hit with the Big Hitters
The RTA/ARTP event was
held at Robious, with Cris Robinson, Eddie Parker, Joe Cappellino and Matt
Magner instructing, along with several Division I Coaches
8/24/07
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Photos
What
happens when some of the best players in the city merge in one place to learn
from top college coaches?
With many students heading off to
private school next week, you might think that they'd be wanting to spend their
last few days of freedom at the beach, or at the pool. But these are
tennis kids. Instead of riding the rapids at Water Country, they perfected
their games on hot Robious courts at the 2nd Annual College Week Camp.
And
they had a blast.
Upbeat
music pounding from the loudspeakers helped motivate nearly 40 junior tournament
players through a week of college level drills and match-play. Robious pros
Cris Robinson and Matt Magner, Raintreee's Eddie Parker and Dominion
Club's Joe Cappellino offered up encouragement and provided the learning tools
for improvement.
Most
of the players agreed that the camp was hard, but fun.
"Hunter's
been dead tired when he comes home," said Nancy Koontz. "He's
had a great time especially with the competitive games and just being with all
his friends."
Coaches
from University of Notre Dame, VA Tech, University of VA, College of William
& Mary, University of Richmond, VCU and University of North Carolina showed
up to offer a sample of college level instruction.
Each
coach focused on a theme, which was incorporated into
drills. Players were grouped by ability, moving from drill to drill,
court to court, partner to partner, opponent to opponent.
UVA's
Brian Boland focused on the importance of having a competitive spirit. From the
other coaches, players learned the techniques of spin control, balance and how
to dictate points to avoid getting caught playing an opponent's game.
Peter
Daub gave pointers on using signals in doubles. The importance of doubles
play for juniors was echoed by VA Tech's Jim Thompson. "Juniors need
to get out and play more high level tournaments. Play more. Play
more. Play more doubles, too. The local USTA tournaments need to place a
higher priority on doubles, and juniors should enter those events as often as
possible."
Robinson,
who held this event for the first time last year, said that the camp is an
opportunity for players to get a feel for what college level practices are like,
as well as to get a closer look at Division I programs. For their
part, the schools are restricted from using events like this as a recruiting
tool.
Thompson
hopes though, that he inspired some kids to continue to work hard.
"We'd love to see more kids from Richmond rising up to the higher
levels," he said.
Thompson
is a graduate of RTA programs. He was born in Marion, a small
town nestled in the highlands of southwestern Virginia. With a lot of
personal drive but little local tennis action, Jim left his home to come to Richmond to work and learn within the RTA program. He lived
with the University of Richmond tennis coach.
"The
RTA Junior Program during that time was huge," said Thompson, who graduated
from Freeman High School in 1984. "I came up with Bobby Bayliss, Wade
McGuire, Kenny Thorne, Sonny Dearth, Carl Bell, Rodney Harmon.
"I
owe a lot to the RTA." Thompson went on to play at Davidson College
and then on the professional circuit before ending up as the Men's Head Coach at
VA Tech.
Paul
Kostin, the VCU Men's Head Tennis Coach, focused the Friday morning theme on
"intensity". The 2000 National College Coach of the year walked
amongst the players on the court to give specific instruction to players if he saw something he
didn't like.
By
Friday afternoon, players were showing a few signs of fatigue from a week's
worth of trying to impress. The Firehouse sub and Chick-fil-A sandwiches
were just enough to carry them through the day's session. Thankfully, with
temperatures hovering in the mid 90's, campers were able to shed those steaming
hot sneakers for a dip in the water after all. A DJ spun tunes
while players cooled off at the end of camp pool party.
"It was cool to have coaches with lots of enthusiasm here from different
schools," said Brett Moorhead, who is currently ranked near the top 50 in
MATA Boys 14s. " I had a great
time all week."
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Brett
Moorhead, Zach King, Brady Straus and Kevin McMillen head off to
compete on the walleyball court as part of the Team
Competition. |
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Don't Miss Page Two, and all
the Photos 
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2 / More Photos
by Sara James
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