Kids learn life sport of tennis

For the past three weeks, a dozen kids took to the tennis courts at the Montana Athletic Club to begin learning a sport they can take part in their whole lives.

There were five kids in the intermediate group ages 7 to 13, who had their hour-long camp from 11 a.m. to noon Mondays through Thursdays. Most of the kids in this group were already able to make regular contact with the ball and most of the time were able to get the ball over the net. They worked on more advanced skills with instructor Bridger Mahlum, who graduated this spring from Bigfork High School following a standout prep tennis career.

"I've been teaching them to make grip changes and working on their consistency," Mahlum said. "We are also working on them making conscious effort to use the correct top spin motion every time, even if its not working for them right away."

Each day after Mahlum worked with the more advanced kids, he spent an hour with the younger, less experienced kids working on connecting with the ball. The seven kids in that group ranged in age from 4 to 9.

"I'm just trying to get them to find the sweet spot in the racquet and just get contact with the ball," Mahlum said. "Some of them are hitting it nicely already though."

Within both groups Mahlum said he saw a great deal of improvement among all of the kids.

"A lot of it is attitude toward the game. A lot of the kids had never even touched a racquet so they weren't even sure if they were going to like it," Mahlum said. "Many of them are multi-sport kids who are participating in all the camps that are being offered in town. So for many of them, they were just being introduced to the sport. They seem to really like it and they are making friends out there too and getting along with each other nicely."

This is Mahlum's second year serving as instructor for the tennis camps, which he attended himself as a kid. Paul Wallin, who is also the head tennis coach at the high school, was the instructor then and continued to be until passing the program on to Mahlum, who has taken a strong liking to it, especially this year.

"I like to live vicariously through them because I know that my tennis career in this town has come to an end," Mahlum said. "I want to pass my skills on to these kids and continue the tradition of high level tennis in Bigfork."

Although Mahlum started his tennis career at a young age, he doesn't always think that it is a great idea for parents to sign their children up for the sport too early. He credits his parents and coaches for not pushing him into the sport and allowing him to go at his own pace, but also admits that his early start may have kept him from finding more joy in the game.

"My first goal is not for them to play great tennis — it is to enjoy themselves because I wish I would've done that more," Mahlum said. "I love the sport, but I think I could've enjoyed myself more, especially during the times when I was losing a match. The kind of camp I'm running is that I'll give them advice but I won't push it on them. I want this to be more of a game for these guys not a job. So that's the approach I took with them."

The kids seemed to respond well to Mahlum's take on how tennis camp should be and this year he had four kids return from his camp last year.

"I was extremely surprised how cooperative they were because of their age group," Mahlum said. "I think they were really committed to learning some stuff this year and that's why they did so well.

They're all eager to learn. I remember back when I was learning to play tennis I was just messing around, but these kids really try the things I tell them to do. They are a really patient group of kids and they don't get frustrated when they mess up. They just keep working at it and that's what I'm looking for."