Juniors flock to tennis

JOHN BISSET

COACHING SESSION: Mark Offen oversees one of the many games which take place during his weekly junior tennis training sessions at the Highfield Tennis Club.

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The middle of the afternoon is a unique time at the Highfield Tennis Club.

As children make their way home from school through the tennis club's alleyway, they stop for "a bit of banter" with Mark Offen.

Offen may be a policeman by trade, but to nearly every kid who walked by as he set up for training, he is their tennis coach.

The Highfield Tennis Club's junior numbers have increased from around 70 to 150 in Offen's 11 years as a coach there.

The success of the sessions is simple, according to Offen.

"If you look at all the kids walking down here – captive market.

"You see them walking down the alleyway, they see the courts and perhaps they like the laughter and want to be a part of it.

"Perhaps they learn one or two things about tennis as well."

A Wai-iti Tennis Club member, Offen decided to use the junior coaching skills he had picked up while in Southland, to benefit South Canterbury children when he moved back to the region.

"I took up the game when I was six or seven. I can't remember a summer since then where I haven't played tennis."

Offen said the coaching sessions were not solely about getting young people involved in tennis.

"We do a lot of games-based stuff, realising that we're not going to keep all the kids, but we're going to try to give them good core-skills, good motor-skills, that will allow them to go and play cricket or tee-ball, and then maybe come back to tennis later.

"In the end they're influenced by greater things than I."

Offen said adapting the programme to various ages and skill levels can be a challenge, but the rewards are simple.

"Having them come here, have a great time and leave with a smile on their face wanting more. We always finish with a game, to get them hyped-up and excited about wanting to come back.

"Also, if we can hype them up to send them home to mum and dad," he laughed.

Offen said he emphasised performance, rather than results.

"I won't ask the children whether they won or lost, I ask them `how did you play?' because sometimes you can play poorly and win, or you can play out of your tree and lose."

Offen has also worked with up-and-coming tennis player Emily Fanning. He said it had been fantastic to play a role in her tennis development.

"I can never recall any occasion where I've either gone out to the Fannings or here in town, where Emily has not wanted to train," he said. "I'm sure there has been but she has never conveyed it.

"To see her development, not only as a player, but as a young lady is humbling."

Offen said he was not sure how long he would continue to coach, but admitted getting his own children in to tennis had "bought me a little bit of time".

- © Fairfax NZ News