Tennis lessons for students

Hundreds of local Grade 3, 4, and 5 students were smiling as they hit the tennis courts at Askew’s Indoor Tennis Centre this past month – most for the first time – thanks to the generous donations of Askew’s Foods and JumpStart, Canadian Tire’s charity arm.

With two instructors helping each class, students progressed from learning simple ball and racquet skills to actual rallying on a kid-sized court! Not to mention that all 200 plus students received a brand-new racquet, ball, and t-shirt!

On the final day of the first wave of students, sponsors David Askew, Mario and Travis Shuchardt (the owner and General Manager of the local Canadian Tire Store), and Reese Gallant, their Jumpstart Coordinator, experienced the joy alongside Salmon Arm West Principal David Wellingham’s grade three and four students. Travis was particularly exuberant, circulating and playing with the kids and feeling much like a 10-year-old himself! 

Wellingham noted that the instruction for the students was phenomenal. “The kids loved it.”

With the design of kid sized nets, racquets and low compression balls, tennis has been transformed and can now be enjoyed by kids as young as four years old! The next session of weekly Red, Orange, and Green level programs at Askew’s Indoor Tennis Centre are now available for registration. 

For more information, contact Winston Pain, Mary Manley, or Bill Spencer at satcreception@gmail.com.