PEOPLE of all ages got a taste for tennis on Saturday when the sport took over Warrnambool’s Civic Green.
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Dubbed The Great Tennis-tacular, the Tennis Victoria initiative has been travelling Australia to get people interested in picking up a racquet.
“It’s our big participation driver — it’s about giving kids a positive tennis experience (and) we’re hoping to get them to pick up a racquet and enjoy tennis for life,” said Tennis Victoria marketing manager Liz Smith.
She said it also helped reintroduce parents to the sport.
“We find with parents that that’s what happens. They’re taking kids to their local tennis club and seeing an opportunity to get back involved,” Ms Smith said.
The Great Tennis-tacular offered plenty of tennis activities, including mini-courts, giant racquets, target competitions and a chance to measure the service speed of participants.
Ms Smith said the event led into the Australian Open Blitz, where towns participated in tennis activities to earn points and ended up being assigned an Australian Open player, potentially winning big prizes.
Warrnambool’s Blitz player last year was Maria Sharapova.
Ms Smith said Tennis Victoria was happy with the turnout at the Civic Green on Saturday, with about 500 people taking part in the activities.
“The weather held out so lots of families came down,” she said.
“We had good support from Warrnambool City Council, South West TAFE event management students, local tennis clubs and coaches and the local schools.”
mneal@fairfaxmedia.com.au