Tennis academy to expand

A leading regional WA tennis academy will begin holding classes in the Pilbara next term.

SunCity Tennis Academy, a high- performance tennis academy based in Geraldton, is opening a Pilbara branch in partnership with local tennis clubs in Karratha, Dampier and Port Hedland.

SCTA director and head coach Jarron Kretschmann said the organisation had decided to expand into the Pilbara after speaking to several members of the Karratha Tennis Club about the sport’s possibilities in the region. “Conditions (in the Pilbara) lend themselves well to tennis in the middle of the year,” he said.

“Up there it’s a lot nicer and it’s another option.”

The academy mainly caters to young people aged 3-17 and classes will run weekly in Karratha, Dampier and Hedland, beginning with about six weeks in Term 2 before rolling out to a full 8-10 week schedule in Term 3.

Mr Kretschmann said the advertised classes had been “wildly popular” in Karratha and Dampier so far, showing there was a lot of local support for tennis.

“Tennis being an individual sport, we struggle to compete against the likes of football and netball a lot,” he said.

“The benefit of getting someone like us up there is the region now has a commercial enterprise that focuses on tennis development and club development.”

The Pilbara expansion has been supported by local government and the Department of Sport and Recreation as well as tennis clubs.

Mr Kretschmann said once they became established in Karratha, Dampier and Hedland they may also look at running a remote tennis services program in inland Pilbara towns.

For more information or to enrol, go to the Karratha Tennis Club Facebook page.