Beach Tennis' Debut at Camp Pemigewassett
By: Jeffrey Greene
After participating in my 1st Beach Tennis tournament this past June (2011), I was so intrigued by the sport as well as the entire atmosphere surrounding the event, I decided to try to bring this exciting new sport up to my summer camp. Having worked at sleepaway camps for the past 20 summers, my instincts told me that this just might be a new wrinkle to add to our tennis program that would work well in a camp setting. Granted, we don't have the right kind of sandy beach since we are on a lake in New Hampshire, but nevertheless, if a soft, sort of level, cushy grass area was all that you needed, I figured it was definitely worth giving it a try. Camp Pemigewassett (Pemi for short, it's a mouthful) is a very traditional all-boys camp, now 104 years old, although it is not a sports camp. Still, it seemed like a natural fit - relatively easy to learn, not requiring too much instruction, supervision, or equipment, but most significantly, lots of fun.
As it turned out, not only was it a big hit at our camp, but I think it quickly became evident that it was a surprisingly welcome addition to our overall sports program. While I originally thought it would be a nice alternative activity on rainy days when our clay courts are unplayable, I soon recognized that its benefits and value went far beyond that. While initially finding the right location to set up the court where I could oversee and monitor the game's nascent beginnings and where its visibility could create a buzz, once it was up and running, you couldn't keep people off the court. I couldn't believe how popular it became virtually overnight without any overt proselytizing on my part, just that natural organic synergy of the game itself coupled with the general competitive athletic vibe embodied by an all-boys camp overflowing with happy, good-natured, inquisitive kids. Having been the Director of Tennis there for 13 consecutive summers now since 1999, other than fortuitously having brought myself to Pemi, it would be my single best contribution to camp over the course of my time up there.
At the conclusion of the summer, during our culminating final week, I set up a Camper/Counselor Beach Tennis Tournament for our top 16 campers with the strongest tennis skills and teamed them up with 16 of our most athletic counselors, many of whom had taught on my staff. Creating 4 groupings of 4 evenly-matched teams and using a Round Robin format similar to the one utilized in the PRO Beach Tennis event that I had participated in, but with regular 6 game sets rather than 9 game PRO sets, the tournament attracted a lot of attention and spectator interest. While our camp is not a hardcore sports camp by any stretch of the imagination, this one-time event undeniably produced some of the very best athletic competition witnessed at our camp over the entire summer. Hard fought matches, wonderful teamwork and communication, exemplary sportsmanship, and a surprisingly high level of play. Naturally, the caliber of play improved as the event moved on, with strategy, tactics and skills starting to develop as the players got more into it. Anyone watching the latter rounds would've concurred as the semis and finals, which were played 2 out of 3 sets, seemed to accentuate the already intense yet well-played collegial atmosphere surrounding the 1st time Pemi event. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the counselors chosen to participate in it or the campers who felt privileged to compete in it since it was an "invitational only" tournament. Regardless, with only one court at our disposal, it was difficult enough as is just to even make a 16 team event run relatively smoothly to its completion. That fact alone may be the greatest testament to the event's success.
The biggest problem, other than losing literally our entire ball supply in the surrounding streams and bushes where the court was initially set up, is that I've created a monster. Since we only had one court, even with a 6-game set rarely taking more than 15 minutes to play due to the nature of the quick points, only 1 serve rule and no-ad scoring, there still could only be 4 players playing at any one time. Not having a proper sand court turned out to be a non-issue as kids were more than happy to take off their socks and sneakers and dive for balls with reckless abandon on the soft, plush, cushy grass. Even the youngest campers, the juniors, aged 8 - 10, found it easy to handle the paddles and eventually figured it out. Anytime you can add a unique, new twist to the wonderful variety of activities already offered at camp, you feel like you've discovered Plutonium. So now, with a 2nd court on the horizon, better paddles and more balls (lots of more balls), I've inadvertently become the Godfather of Beach Tennis at Camp Pemi, although my guess is in all likelihood, they refer to me by something else behind my back, that's okay, because being the Johnny Appleseed of Beach Tennis in the White Mountains isn't too bad either.