Youth Winter Camp is Coming, sign up now!

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year too! Our Whitman Women's Tennis Winter Camp which has been so much fun the past few years is back again! It runs after school Mon-Fri for the week of January 9-13 and we have an amazing group of coaches coming with Emily, Hannah, Kate, Alyssa and the Texas Twins Courtney and Morgan joining me on court. The Quickstart sessions for under 10 will be awesome after our USTA training day and every one of these Whitman players have done significant coaching and bring amazing energy to the court. Sign ups are live right now at www.wwpr.us or you can download the flier with a registration sheet here If you can't make it every day or have questions, please contact me and we'll arrange to get you as much tennis as possible! Coach John 509 527-5262 heinj@whitman.edu

Growing Youth Tennis in Walla Walla

Many thanks to the USTA for putting on a Quickstart Tennis Workshop last Saturday at Whitman! I'd also like to thank all of the young coaches from Whitman and the City of Walla Walla who participated in the workshop, I think everyone had a great time and learned some valuable tools to run practices for kids. If your school or association was not involved, but would like to know about upcoming trainings and opportunities to get Quickstart equipment, please contact me at the number or email below. Here is a link to some photos from the weekend, notice that 5-7 year olds only need 36 feet for a court and you can use tape, throw down lines and tennis or caution tape for a net and SHAZAAM! you've got a tennis match!

NOW, we'll apply what we've learned to the system of tennis I use for kids through the best adult players at our Whitman Women's Tennis Winter Camp! It takes place after school Monday through Friday January 9-13th. Stay tuned for more details and check the City of Walla Walla website for sign ups which should be active soon! Coach John heinj@whitman.edu 509.527.5262

Quickstart Tennis Workshop - Final Call for Participants

Just a reminder that this Saturday from 9-12:30 we are hosting a workshop to teach you how to organize and run tennis for kids under 10. It's easy and FUN to get involved. We have a few spots left, PE teachers get education credit and the USTA is sending a national trainer to Walla Walla. If you're interested and haven't yet signed up, contact me ASAP before the last spots are gone. Coach John heinj@whitman.edu (509) 301-8502

Final week of drop in Tennis NOW

Hi everyone, As Thanksgiving approaches, this is our final week of after school drop in tennis at Whitman for the calendar year. We'll have Jr High/High school today (Mon) and Wednesday, and tiny tots through advanced beginning Tuesday and Thursday. We'll also have some prizes and will do wrist band testing for 10 year old and under players on Tues and Thursday. Cost is still just $5 at the door. Join us on the courts! Also FYI, WEDNESDAY night at 9pm is the deadline to sign up for the Quickstart Tennis Workshop. Click here to sign up, or contact me for more information. Sporting Regards, Coach John heinj@whitman.edu 509 301 8502

Here is the link for information on the Quickstart workshop. If you would like printed fliers to give out, let me know and I'll get them to you. Their is a direct link to signup at here. or copy and paste this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEhRaDNzM3BydFh6SWh0TUVZaEZJLXc6MQ There is limited space so please contact me or sign up to get involved! With great excitement, Coach John heinj@whitman.edu 509 301 8502

Fall Tennis At Whitman: Drop in is here!

Hi everyone, As the Whitman teams finish up our Fall season, I'm gearing up for drop in tennis. The general schedule will be Intermediate/advanced/academy players Mon and Wed with tiny tots to Intermediate on Tues and Thurs. If you have a group of 3-6 players of similar age/level who want to play on the other days, let me know and on a first come first served basis we can get a court going. Times will be from 3:30-4:15 in the Bratton Indoor Courts at Whitman and the cost is $5 at the door; if you'd like to prepay for sessions, please make any checks out to "Whitman Tennis", sessions will run from next week 10/17 through 11/14. We will also offer FREE private adult lessons on Tuesday and Thursday from 12-12:45 by appointment (email heinj@whitman.edu or call John at 509 301 8502). This is part of my Coaching Tennis class at Whitman where the students practice their coaching skills. I will tell you that the students I have in the class all have some really good experience coaching and can really help with beginning or advanced players. See you on the court! Coach John

Watch Great Live Tennis This Weekend at Whitman

Well, its been a typical busy and exciting Fall for the Whitman tennis teams so there has been a bit of a hiatus from junior tennis for Coach Jeff and I, but starting today, the Whitman Men's Tennis team is hosting and competing in the USTA/ITA Fall Regional Championships. This is a singles and doubles tournament with the best players from the Northwest Conference and all 12 Whitman Men's players will be competing. You can read about it on the Whitman website and see links to the draws with match times at http://www.whitman.edu/content/athletics/ As for playing opportunities, a few of you I know are playing the USTA tournament in the Tri Cities next week, which is awesome! Currently, there are no clinics or match play days set up through Whitman but keep an eye on your email or the blog and we'll be having some after school sessions soon! See you this weekend watching some great tennis at Whitman! Coach John

Junior tournament deadline!

Sorry for the late post but today is the last "official" day to enter the Subway tournament in Walla Walla (play is next weekend). This is the ONLY USTA sanctioned junior tennis event in Walla Walla for every level of play. The tournament offers age groups in 12, 14, 16, and 18's. Each age group also has 3 different ability levels -- novice (1st tournaments), challenger (some experience), and championship (top players in the PNW).

To enter visit the online entry page

Subway State Games of Washington

I won't be working on the tournament until later in the weekend so if you miss the deadline you can contact me to enter.

Again this is a great opportunity for local youth to play in an USTA event -- actually its the only event so take advantage of it!

Again divisions for every level!

Coach Jeff

Men's conference tournament hosted at Whitman this weekend

Hello everyone, just a quick note about the men's conference tournament this weekend. By virtue of being regular season conference champions, the men's team gets to host the NWC conference tournament. The top four teams in the conference play off for a birth in the NCAA III team tournament. Very exciting and high energy tennis.

Schedule for the weekend is

Saturday #1 Whitman vs #4 Pacific 10am

Saturday #2 Willamette vs #3 Whitworth 2pm

Sunday 11am finals.

Pizza will be provided Sunday if the Whitties make the finals. Hope to see you at the courts!

Coach Jeff

Mens Tennis Saturday

Hello everyone, the men's tennis team plays at home for the first time this year on Saturday. At 1pm the Whitties take on conference opponent opponent Lewis & Clark College and at 5pm we play Linfield.

The Linfield match will be the more entertaining of the two matches. Linfield comes into the weekend with a 2-0 mark and ranked #9 in the West Region. Whitman enters the weekend ranked #19 in the nation (#6 in the West) and is riding 69 match win streak against conference opponents.

As always admission is free!

Hope to see you at the courts.

Coach Jeff

Campus Kids Day this Sunday Feb 20th!

Hi everyone,
If you're local I hope you can come watch some great tennis this weekend as the Women's team's first home matches are:

Sat at 1pm vs Lewis-Clark State College (ID), the #16 ranked NAIA team in the nation.
Sun at 9am vs Willamette, kick off our NWC season with our first USTA/ITA Campus Kids Day with free food, fun activities, and lots of great tennis to watch and play, click here  to see the pdf file with more information.

Go Whitman!

A Wonderful Winter Camp

10 and Under Quickstart Tennis Camp

Over 10 Camp Photo

Thanks to all who participated and also to those of you who provided 45 young players the opportunity to come out and enjoy working on their tennis last week.  Coaches Katie, Kate, Maggie and myself had an absolutely great time and it really is rewarding to see so many smiling faces on the tennis court.

We also appreciate your support as this camp was a fundraiser for the Whitman Women's Tennis Team, we hope you'll follow both the men's and women's teams this year as our seasons are starting up this week and both teams promise to bring some exciting tennis action to Walla Walla!

~Coach John