Tallygaroopna Tennis Club thriving amidst explosion in interest

Nov 7, 2023

On the way up: Tallygaroopna’s juniors are better represented than ever - and know how to succeed. Photo by Aydin Payne

There is certainly plenty of interest in competing in Shepparton Junior Tennis Association.

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While teams have scaled back in senior competitions in season 2023-24, the juniors continue pulling highly encouraging numbers.

No better example exists to showcase this than the participation at Tallygaroopna Tennis Club, which has had an enormous uptick coming into this season.

Typically, this club might be capable of fielding one team across the association’s seven divisions, spanning from A1 down to D2 in doubles.

In the current campaign, though, Tallygaroopna has tripled its presence by competing on three fronts, with teams registered in the B1, B2 Open and D1 leagues.

Club president Geoff Akers is understandably over the moon at how the junior ranks within his club have evolved.

“We’ve got three teams of five players each, while we had one team last year,” Akers said.

“There are a number of kids who play multiple sports, about six or seven playing cricket on a Saturday morning.

The fact that there’s no clash has allowed us to accommodate and pick up another couple of teams.“

Akers attributes the influx of junior talent at the club to more than simply convenient scheduling, though.

Tallygaroopna took on an extensive recruiting drive to put up the best chance of fielding additional teams.

“I think the availability of the kids who can play both is one factor, but we put in a fair effort cause we were pretty close to a third team,” Akers said.

“We’ve gone to do some work with beginners and we’ve started off with a group that’s not quite ready for competition.

“That’s proving to be part of (the recruitment), offering people the ability to come and have a social hit and some basic level coaching.”

So, after getting three squads on the courts this season, why not four in the next? Or, eventually, fielding a side in all seven divisions?

Akers says that maintaining a diverse range of skills at the club is more important than trying to compete on every front.

“The advantage of having our teams spread across the divisions is you can cater to all levels,” Akers said.

“We’re hopeful to be able to maintain a spread of grades across the competition.

“Three or four teams is what we’re keen to maintain.”