Mitchell Tennis Jamboree set for Saturday

The second annual Becky Moore State Farm Insurance Junior Tennis Jamboree will be held Saturday at Hitchcock Park.

The event, which begins at 9 a.m., will feature 35 players from Mitchell. Unlike the juniors division of the Mitchell Tennis Classic, this event will feature only local players, and will also pit players of the same abilities against each other in order to make for the most competitive tennis possible.

“Really it’s just set up to let kids play some matches against each other, and just get some more experience,” tournament director John Cersosimo said.

Last year’s event drew 41 players in its first year, so this year’s tournament will nearly match that total. Players will be dived into separate groups based on ability, and then will play a round-robin style tournament within that grouping.

The goal of the Jamboree, according to Cersosimo, is to give more kids a chance to play in a setting where they can be competitive.

“A lot of those kids play maybe one or two tournaments a year,” Cersosimo said. “This just gets another tournament under their belts. They should probably be playing a lot more tournaments, but travel becomes a problem, so we just thought it would be nice to have them play a tournament here.”

Getting children interested in tennis at a younger age has become a priority for the Mitchell Tennis Association and the Mitchell Parks and Recreation department. An advanced juniors tennis league was added recently, as was a grand slam league for girls in grades five through eight. The Parks and Rec department also began a QuickStart tennis program this year, a program designed to help children under 10 develop key tennis skills and increase their interest in the sport.

The Junior Tennis Jamboree is just another step in trying to promote tennis among the youth in Mitchell.

“We’re getting a lot of kids playing tennis, so that’s a good thing,” Cersosimo said. “It’s kind of nice to have all these kids playing, and we like to watch them progress. It’s a great sport for them.”

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