GRHS tennis players teach the game

The high school tennis season consists of a few weeks at the beginning of the school year, wrapping up at the end of September.

However, for Green River High School's players, tennis can be a year-long commitment through the tennis clinics the team hosts throughout the year. Last week, head coach Phil Harder and members of the team hosted their winter tennis clinic at the Green River Recreation Center. Harder said 46 children from elementary and middle school participated in the clinic, learning the basics of tennis over the course of three days.

"We had a pretty good turnout," Harder said.

Harder said he's grateful for both the interest children have shown in the sport and the commitment his players have shown in helping him host the clinics. He said the children enjoy learning from the high school players.

"These guys are a blessing," he said. "They're the reason the clinic is so successful."

The tennis players have as much fun with the kids as the kids do learning from the high schoolers, according to one player.

"I do enjoy playing with the kids," Kelby Pope, a junior at GRHS, said.

Pope said it puts the players in a unique position of both teaching fundamentals and playing with the children, a position she said can be challenging.

"It puts us in a coaching position and makes us appreciate our coaches more," Pope said.

For junior Audrie Harrison, helping kids grow as tennis players is something she enjoys about volunteering at the tennis clinics.

"I like watching them improve," she said. "It makes me happy to see so many people coming out to enjoy the sport."