Hello from the Camp Seneca Lake Tennis Courts!
My name is Kevin Snyder, and this July I am leading the Tennis Hobby Group. At camp I work in Tuscarora, but during the school year I attend Allegheny College where I am a member of the tennis team. This is my second summer at CSL and I’m more excited than ever to work with the Tennis Hobby Group.
Hobbies have started off with a bang. We are a small group this session, but we are also quite mighty. With only three campers in this group, I am thrilled to work on their goals individually and we are able to give them a lot of one-on-one instruction to better improve the camper’s tennis skills.
As was the case last summer, tennis hobby group has been broken into two different groups. The first group is our more advanced campers who have played tennis before and know how to hit the ball and other basic skills. This summer, these campers will be working on honing those skills to make them more successful on the tennis court. We also talk about strategy and do a lot of competitive play in order to improve their knowledge of the game as well. On the flip side, for those campers who haven’t played tennis before and want to give it a try for the first time, we also have a beginner group where we go through a “crash course” in everything tennis. We cover the shots that they need to hit, as well as basics of the game including the scoring system.
We’ve been through two hobby periods with the Tennis Hobby Group, and everything has been going great! On our first day, we worked with the beginner group on their forehand. It is the most basic shot in tennis. We discussed the grip, contact point, swing pattern, and follow through and all of the campers who worked on their forehand did great with it! At the same time, our advanced group was working on hitting all of the shots in the game in order to put together a plan for them for the rest of the session. Forehands, backhands, volleys, and serves all flew through the air and before we knew it, our time was up.
The second hobby session was today, and our beginner group began building their game by adding the backhand to the mix. When all was said and done, the backhands in this group looked great! With the advanced group, we focused on the forehand. Our major topics of discussion included bending knees in order to get low as well as stepping forward towards the ball.
Overall, I’ve been proud of how hard the campers of Tennis Hobby Group have worked so far this summer. I’m excited to keep you posted on their successes in the next couple of weeks.
Kevin Snyder
Tusc Counselor
