Johnson Elementary student, Matias Selle, participates in Teach Me Tennis session
The fall season of Teach Me Tennis is officially underway in several Floyd County area schools. The award winning program is recognized both locally and nationally.
Teach Me Tennis is a six week after-school program focused on introducing tennis to elementary age students.
JP Selle, Coosa Country Club Director of Tennis and Teach Me Tennis co-founder, explains how the program differs from other tennis instruction programs. “It utilizes a methodology of teaching in which several students interact with each other to learn tennis at the same time.” Selle added that coaches facilitate the students’ learning process through basic drill and technique training.
The program launched in the Spring of 2015 with six local schools and 140 participants: Glenwood Primary, Johnson Elementary, Pepperell Elementary, Pepperell Primary, Midway Primary, and Garden Lakes Elementary.
Currently, there are eight participating schools with over 200 participants either already running, or about to start the program: Glenwood Primary, Johnson Elementary, Pepperell Elementary, Pepperell Primary, Armuchee Elementary, Model Elementary, McHenry Primary and Darlington School.
The total number of youth participants for 2015 is expected to surpass 340.
The fall program will finish with the Teach Me Tennis Tournament scheduled for November 21. This one-day event will bring together all participating schools to introduce the fun of team competition in a non-intimidating environment. The tournament is an important event for all of the participants and their parents as it showcases all the new skills the students learned over the prior weeks.
Last fall, over 110 juniors participated in the tournament; Johnson Elementary took home the trophy and plans to return this year to defend their title.
The program relies on the support of the schools involved, Berry College volunteers, and P.E. coaches including: Mike Adams at Model Elementary, Eric Burkhalter at Armuchee Elementary, Kyle Jones at Glenwood Primary, Sam Couch at Johnson Elementary, Craig Walton at Pepperell Elementary, Logan Yerbey at Darlington School, Andy Henderson at Pepperell Primary, and Michael Short at McHenry Elementary.
Teach Me Tennis, under the umbrella of the Teach Me Life Foundation, is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to grow tennis in the Rome-Floyd area. The program works in partnership with USTA to obtain equipment grants to provide each participant a tennis racquet to keep. Teach Me Tennis was founded by three local tennis coaches: JP Selle of Coosa Country Club, David Araiza of the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Department, and Cristian Lopez of Rome Tennis Management.
For more information on Teach Me Tennis, call 706-409-1373, or email jpselle@gmail.com.
About the Author
Our Georgia's Rome tourism team works hard to curate content to help you discover and explore our beautiful town! We want to ensure our content is up-to-date and accurate; so please let us know if we ever overlook an important detail! This post was originally written by Kristi Kent and is updated by staff.
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