Tennis Memphis
As stay-at-home orders ease throughout Memphis, sports and exercise facilities throughout the city have been reopening their doors to the public. On May 11th, Tennis Memphis, a nonprofit organization in charge of all of the city’s public tennis facilities, reopened all of its centers, except for the Leftwich location, which is currently undergoing construction.
While COVID-19 continues to sweep the globe, it’s important for children to continue to get regular exercise and pursue healthy lifestyles. But many families may be worried about potential exposure in public. Rest assured, however, that tennis may be one of the best options for exercise while maintaining a safe and healthy distance from others.
“Tennis is a fantastic way to get active while still practicing social distancing,” says Stephen Lang, executive director of Tennis Memphis. “When you’re volleying baseline to baseline, you’re about 78 feet away from your opponent. Even in a vigorous match where you’re utilizing most of the court, you’re no closer than 10 feet apart. Tennis is a safe way to ensure children and their families are getting a healthy social reintroduction back into the community.”
The centers currently have no plans to host summer camps or junior programs, but children will still be able to take advantage of court rentals, permanent court time, and one-on-one instruction to hone their tennis skills.
“These one-on-one training sessions focus on critical skills development, like learning and improving a specific stroke, rallying, and footwork drills to play and enjoy the game,” says Lang. “Our coaches take special precautions during private lessons to follow CDC and USTA guidelines, including social distancing, wearing masks, wiping down all equipment, and allowing only the designated coach to touch the tennis balls.”
Lang says it’s important to maintain the health and well-being of children, not only through these safety guidelines, but also through their love of tennis.
“We know that continued commitment to sports like tennis is generally advantageous for children,” says Lang. “But it feels especially important to get back into playing now. Playing tennis offers kids a sense of normalcy during a time when things might not feel normal at home. It also helps give them a healthy outlet to release some pent-up energy while allowing them to safely socialize with their coaches and other players out on the court. Now is also a wonderful time to learn character lessons – a few weeks away from the sport could make previously easy skills feel more challenging. It’s important to get back to the court and keep honing your skills even when they feel hard. That’s a valuable life lesson for people of all ages.”