The first Saturday after the greater metropolitan area’s circuit-breaker lockdown is lifted sees a hype of activity in a pocket of sloping hills and valleys in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburb of Mount Waverley.
On the green hills slopes 18 holes of the heavily-bunkered Riversdale Golf Club course, while neighbouring it, is the MCC Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club.
And it’s the Tennis Club – featuring 12 courts that are en-tout-cas in surface – that is bubbling with activity with all 12 courts in use featuring Ladies Pennant competitions on the lower courts.
But on the upper courts, to the left of the clubhouse, the potential next generation of tennis stars are honing their craft, alongside tennis coaching and pathway team, Vida Tennis.
“Our junior numbers have been increasing year on year. Vida does a fantastic job here (and) there is coaching happening here every day of the week,” MCC Tennis Honorary Secretary, Jordana Dymond said.
“You see here on a Saturday morning, we’ve got so many courts full of kids.
“There’s after school coaching on the weeknights and then there are junior competitions held here on the weekends.”
Overseeing the rise of this in partnership with Vida, is MCC Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club Head Coach, Kane Dewhurst.
“Vida Tennis have been coaching out of the Glen Iris Tennis Club for the last 15 years. Our numbers in our junior coaching program have been steadily increasing to the point where we’re now seeing 550 to 600 participants per week,” Mr Dewhurst said.
“(We cater) right through from Red Ball (program), Hot Shots, Orange Ball and Green Ball, all the way into a development program and then leading into our performance program.”
Dewhurst calls the philosophy of participation at MCC Tennis “cradle to grave” – the notion that you can play Tennis all of your life, with the Club offering the ability for members and non-members to play socially and competitively.
And while Dewhurst oversees a group of coaches responsible for bringing the next crop through, it also doesn’t escape the attention of Premier League Men’s captain, Aaron Addison.
“It’s always good to come out and get involved with the coaching and the Club Championships because that’s where we’re hopefully getting our next Premier League players from,” Mr Addison said.
“It’s good to get a little bit of a young scout going and hopefully see the development players coming through as well.”
Overall, the aim of the Junior coaching program is to ensure there is a pathway for players at all levels of Tennis.
“Whether they are the three or four-year-old just starting off in the ‘Hot Shots’, right through to a performance Junior that’s playing Australian ranking tournaments and looking to take their career to ITF level and beyond, there’s something here for everyone,” Dewhurst said.
For more information on the junior coaching program or playing Tennis at MCC Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club, visit www.mccglenirisvalley.org.au