Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport

Geoff Bower, a level-three certified tennis coach, speaks to students of G C Foster College and coaches at the Alliance Investments Progressive Tennis workshop at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

PROGRESSIVE TENNIS, a version of the popular court game customised for youngsters, took its initial steps into Jamaica yesterday.

Spawned in Belgium and France, Progressive Tennis is played on half of a half court or three quarters of a court and features smaller racquets, lower nets and larger Smurf-like balls to get young players accustomed to the sport at a level modified to their size and abilities.

National coach Douglas Burke launched the initiative at the start of a workshop for coaches at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston yesterday.

Teaching through stages

"We are excited about the programme. It is the process of teaching youngsters tennis through stages. We start at half-court and then advance to three-quarters and finally full-court," he said, while thanking Alliance Investment Management for its continued support of the island's junior tennis programmes.

The man charged with coaching the coaches over three days is well-credentialled Canadian Geoff Bower.

Bower said Progressive Tennis had been operating in his country for only a few years but the results were already evident.

"We have actually started a Progressive Tennis league now and you go to these tournaments and the kids are serving and volleying and playing all the shots," Bower, a Level Three certified coach who was head coach at the Toronto Tennis Academy, said.

"Our players are basically under nine and they enjoy the game because, unlike playing on a full court, they can learn the fundamentals while playing instead of drilling; they can have rallies while learning all the basics of the game," the many-time visitor to the island said.

"The racquet work and timing, like preparing early, impact point, footwork, recovering and laying back the wrists - we can teach it all but the main thing is they can play against each other," he said.

Bower said Progressive Tennis also wowed parents: "The parents go like 'holy smoke, there's my kid playing tennis', instead of watching one-ball rallies and balls going over their child's head. It's really catching on."