| FLOREY PRIMARY SCHOOL |
| Published on January 22‚ 2013 |
I have had a wonderful time teaching children at Florey Primary this year. The teachers have bee extremely helpful, and the enthusiasm from the kids has made them a pleasure to teach, which in turn has meant that the childrens' skills and knowledge of the game have been progressing very quickly. The children thoroughly enjoy and actively participate in the fundamental motor skill games and as at the start of term 4, the children have learnt all the major tennis strokes and have been able to apply them in rally games. I look forward to continuing the further development of tennis skills through the KTF program at Florey Primary School.
Adrian Zarebski, KTF Coach |
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| GOLD CREEK PRIMARY SCHOOL -ACT |
| Published on January 22‚ 2013 |
The amazing kids at Gold Creek Primary School have been an absolute pleasure to teach.
The kids love the modified equipment which allows them to get playing much sooner which means they enjoy their sessions much more.
I have found that running the program compressed all into one term with all the kids coming for 1 session throughout the day has been a great move as it brings a great vibe and buzz for tennis around the school. The smile on the kids' faces when they achieve something new is priceless. It's really great to see the kids that have more experience help out the other kids so that they all improve quicker and everyone can join in on the fun. The program builds their skills throughout the term which hopefully inspires the kids to play tennis outside school. Whether it be lessons with us at our centres or even just to hit with a family members on the weekend. I like to promote Tennis as the game for life. Get the kids to love the game like we all do and you will have them hooked for life.
Kids Tennis Foundation would like to thank the staff of Gold Creek Primary School, particularly Leona Anton, Office Manager, and Frand de Simone, Executive Teacher, Year 3 to 5, for their enthusiasm and assistance in delivering our tennis program.
Robert Jamieson, KTF Coach |
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| New Coach a Hit in Canberra! |
| Published on November 27‚ 2009 |
BY COLIN MASON
KTF in Canberra has had a change in coaches with the departure of the popular Anthony Okines. The good news is that I have been able to recruit two new coaches, Robert Jamison and Owen Peemoeller.
Owen has already made his mark in a short time with one of his
schools sending the following email -
“Hi Colin,
I just wanted to let you know that Owen is absolutely terrific. He is really accommodating with our needs - and the kids think he is great! Thank you for organising this.”
Also, our other relatively new coaches, Damien Ward and Alun
Jones, have just been appointed Head Coaches at the ACT National Sports Club, which is undergoing a $4.5 million redevelopment. Congratulations Damien and Alun! |
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| Star coaches join KTF team in Canberra |
| Published on June 11‚ 2009 |
BY COLIN MASON
WELCOME ALUN JONES & DAMIEN WARD
We are very fortunate to have two new and very experienced coaches join the KTF team, Alun Jones (right) and Damien Ward (left), both of whom are former touring professionals….
ALUN JONES
Alun Jones, a local of Canberra, was one of ACT's top ranked juniors having trained at the ACT Academy of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. Alun competed in numerous tournaments within Australia and overseas achieving a world ranking high of 123. Alun made his Australian Open debut in 2000 losing in a close 3-set match to former world No. 1 and 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Alun's recent results include a close 4 set encounter with the then No. 2 world ranked Rafael Nadal at the 2007 US Open. At the 2008 Australian Open Alun won his first round match against Albert Montanes but lost in the next round once again to Juan Carlos Ferrero.
In 2008 Alun was selected to play Davis Cup for Australia against Chinese Taipei and went on to win his single match. Alun retired from the professional circuit at the Wimbledon Championships in 2008.
DAMIEN WARD
Damien Ward, also a local of Canberra, trained at the ACT Academy of Sport whilst competing on the ACT tennis scene where he became both the No. 1 ranked ACT junior and Open age player at 17.
Damien accepted a tennis scholarship at the Brigham Young University in Utah, USA, where he competed on the US Collegiate Circuit against world class players including James Blake (Harvard) and Bob and Mike Bryant (Stanford). Upon graduating in 2000 Damien turned professional competing on the ITF/ATP tour where he achieved world rankings in both singles and doubles.
Damien retired from the professional tennis circuit in 2003 and undertook an appointment as head of the Cliff Drysdale Tennis Academy in Florida, a well-renowned international tennis academy under ESPN commentator Cliff Drysdale.
In 2006, Damien was recruited to manage and coach at the Patrick McEnroe Tennis Training Centre in Miami, a tennis club at the Grove Isle Hotel and Spa under tennis great Patrick McEnroe. Damien's previous pupils have included the No. 1 ranked 12's and under female tennis player of the USA, Sasha Vickery. |
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| Canberra news 2008 |
| Published on December 22‚ 2008 |
FROM COLIN MASON
December 2008
Advantage Tennis operates the KTF Program at 7 schools in the A.C.T. and this term saw over 300 students introduced to tennis and love every minute of it.
With two highly motivated coaches Jamie Adrian and Jeff Gray delivering the KTF Program, the kids are enjoying the challenges set.
With drills and exercises to build co-ordination and confidence, and fun games with great team building elements, who wouldn't love tennis at school!
And, we're finding that once a week is just not enough tennis for a lot of the kids and that our Friday social has something extra to offer with more than 40 kids from our KTF programs taking advantage every week.
July 2008
With colder weather here for the next few months the schools are still going great guns. The weather in Canberra is always sunny providing plenty of opportunities for tennis.
Exciting and fun lessons are delivered each week from the KTF coaches Anthony Okines, James Emery and the new boy on the block from the National Sports Club, Nathan Price.
Every school looks forward to their time with the coaches each week. The teachers seem to enjoy our visit as much as the kids. We have 13 schools involved in the program and as of this term there are two new ones, Lyneham Primary and Gold Creek Primary; which is in a new area. Narrabunda Primary will close this year due to ACT Government policy to consolidate schools in older areas.
The two new schools were very excited to start the KTF program. Gold Creek Primary has been able to use the tennis court at the high school next door so the kids are getting the most out of the KTF Program. Hopefully there will be a number of young tennis superstars on the way up as well as many who will just enjoy the game socially. |
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| News from Canberra - December 2007 |
| Published on December 3‚ 2007 |
BY COLIN MASON
Tennis in Canberra has been coming along strong this year with a lot of activity from the KTF programs. Anthony Okines coaches over 150 students per week in the KTF sessions. There are already a number of keen students playing tennis on a regular basis thanks to the KTF Program, with a few of them starting to play in some local junior tournaments around Canberra.
Jake, Riley and Hayden (pictured with coach, Anthony Okines) are an example of some of those kids. This photo was taken at a local tournament that all three kids participated in and now they all have tennis as their number 1 sport!
Thanks to KTF for giving these kids the opportunity to have a starting point in tennis. Now we hope there will be more young super stars coming through in Canberra over the next few years.
THANK YOU!
A big thank you to Todd Larkham, Head Coach at the High Performance Academy at Tennis ACT for generously donating tennis balls for use by KTF coaches in programs throughout Canberra. Very much appreciated! |
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| News from Canberra - May 2007 |
| Published on May 28‚ 2007 |
BY COLIN MASON
Kids Tennis Foundation programs are going strong in the A.C.T. this year with two experienced and dedicated coaches looking after 12 schools between them.
Anthony Okines (pictured) takes the Kids Tennis Foundation Program to Evatt Primary School where is says that it’s great to see the improvement of the kids throughout the term. At Giralang Primary School KTF is the only sporting program that all the students look forward to and all join in. The only morning students turn up to school early at Narrabundah Primary School is the day tennis is on – they wouldn’t want to be late for their 9am tennis lesson! A great program is conducted at Lyons Primary School with a lot of enthusiasm from the coach and students alike. At Mt Rogers Primary School, not only the kids enjoy the program but the teachers love it too.
From KTF coach James Emery:
"Advantage Tennis currently runs KTF programs at 7 schools in the ACT, bringing tennis to over 250 children each term who would not normally get the opportunity to participate in our wonderful sport. As well as this, Advantage Tennis offers a Friday night social where the children are able to come to the courts and partake in some coaching activities, games and social play followed by a BBQ. We find that the Friday night is a great success and offers the KTF participants and their brothers and sisters another avenue into tennis with approx 30 to 40 kids attending each week. We look forward to it continuing!" |
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| News from Canberra - November 2006 |
| Published on November 30‚ 2006 |
BY COLIN MASON
The KTF program is fortunate to have two enthusiastic young qualified coaches, James Emery and Anthony Okines, delivering the program in a very professional way to 'disadvantaged' children at nine schools in the ACT.
The Principal of the latest school to be added to the KTF program, Giralang Primary School, has expressed her appreciation -
"Giralang Primary School is very happy to be chosen to be one of the schools to be included in the Kids Tennis Foundation program. The weekly tennis lesson is the highlight of the kids sporting program. When the lessons started only two children had played tennis before. It did not take long for the coach, Anthony Okines (OKY), to have a big impact on the kids’ tennis ability in particular and with their attitude to sport in general. The drills and games have produced an overall enthusiasm in the children for tennis and I feel confident that as a result many will go on to take coaching lessons at their local club". |
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