Tennis Yukon president invited to USTA conference

Last spring Tennis Yukon was awarded the title of Rookie Community of the Year for 2008 from the United States Tennis Association,

Last spring Tennis Yukon was awarded the title of Rookie Community of the Year for 2008 from the United States Tennis Association, and as part of that honor, they have been invited to attend the USTA conference in San Diego this weekend.

Tennis Yukon president Stacy Lewis is heading for the U.S. tomorrow to represent the club at the Building Tennis Communities Conference.

The rookie community award was part of four categories that USTA handed out awards for, and all of the winners were invited to the conference.

“This is the prize for it,” said Lewis. Tennis Yukon accepted the Rookie Community of the Year award in November.

The conference will cover a variety of tennis topics, but will be based on “grassroots tennis development,” Lewis said. It starts Friday and runs until Sunday.

Some of the topics that will be covered include getting tennis school programs started, getting volunteers and how to start a child in tennis and move them up in the sport. They will also cover grant writing, working with a board and building support for tennis in communities.

Each topic will be hosted twice, so attendees will get a chance to go to all of them if they want.

Lewis is excited to take what she learns this weekend and bring it back to the Yukon, where athletes are often left out of the loop.

“With all sports and activities, you get that sort of isolation factor,” Lewis said.

The conference will cover how to get more kids involved in tennis, by making it more of a team sport.

Lewis said many kids take a tennis lesson and then go play hockey.

“They are really really working hard to change that,” she said.

By making tennis leagues with teams of a few players, the USTA is hoping to increase numbers in the sport.

“I’m really excited about that,” Lewis said.

Right now Tennis Yukon is limited in where they can play. There is no indoor facility, but Lewis said they hope to implement league-style play when they head to the outdoor courts in May.

“I’m really looking for some creative was to implement that,” she said.

The four months from now until the season starts will give Tennis Yukon plenty of time to decide athe best way to have a tennis league in the territory.