November 19, 2007
"Scoop It Up!" Fall 2007, Organized Chaos, "Looks Like Rugby for Kids"
From the outside, the scene is chaos, a view into the world of 5-8 year olds on a playground, movement, noise and color with what at first appears to be no organization. The ball goes over the net and several spheres of light and sound close on it. The trademark cry: “Scoop It Up!”, after which the ball usually goes back over.
The 2007 Lake Travis Youth Association ‘Scoop-It-Up’ entry level tennis program at the Austin Tennis Academy held its finale November 10th. The program was a huge success, directed by ATA Coach Lucie Schmidhauser. This season’s ‘Scoop-It-Up’ was different than past years, as many of the kids developed tennis skills quickly enough to move beyond the entry level game.
This season, SIU was divided into two groups, beginners consisting level 1 and veteran Scoopers who made up level 2. Coach Lucie and the ATA staff geared “level 2 Scoop-It-Up for kids who were involved in the program in the spring, developing technical skills, playing team singles and doubles tennis”. Because of the purposely smaller number of level 2s, the coaching staff was able to give “each child individual attention.”
Level 1 Scoop-It-Up featured the entry level game, 4 players on each side with two rovers covering the area behind the baseline. Coach Lucie singled out Coach Anthony Martinez and former Academy player Tyler Cox as “the most valuable coaches and leaders of level 1,” adding, “they did a fantastic job of making sure everyone had a great time.” One first time SIU parent commented that Level 1 “looks like rugby for kids”, everyone moving towards the ball like a typical rugby scrum.
ATA’s high level coaching staff was a big part of this season’s SIU success according to Coach Lucie: “At some point during this season, we had every Austin Tennis Academy Coach, from Head Coach Newman to Academy Co-Director Cristina Moros”, working with the SIU program. As a junior development academy, ATA’s high level staff sets it apart from many junior development programs. And, the same positive consequence exist for SIU. High level ATA coaches working with SIU creates quick development, and several of the Scoopers from this season have already moved on to ATA development programs such as All-Stars.
The Austin Tennis Academy and the Lake Travis Youth Association will offer another SIU program in the spring of 2008. Coach Lucie hopes to grow the program and expand the basic game into 3 levels. For now, “rugby for kids” gets a break, but save the spring for another great season of ‘Scoop-It-Up!’.
Back to News Summary
+1 512.276.2271
+1 512.276.2272
