Swinomish Tennis Clinic

The Skagit Valley Tennis Association hosted a tennis clinic for Swinomish Youth at the Skagit Valley College’s covered tennis courts on Friday afternoon, the 22nd of October. Thirteen enthusiastic kids – ages 10 to 15 – arrived early on buses provided by the Swinomish Tribe’s Recreation Department to get signed in, pick up their new tennis racquets and get their pictures taken. Trenton Corvino and five coaching assistants – Asher Cohen, Dave Moreland, Terry Williams, Ellen Gray and Allan Olson – were there to meet them when they arrived.

Trenton is a USTA professional that recently moved from Portland to Anacortes, bringing with him years of experience teaching young tennis players how to play and how to improve their game. He developed a “Swinomish Clinic Plan,” reviewed it with his assistants in advance via ZOOM and introduced the coaches and the game plan to the kids when the 2-hour clinic began. It was a well-organized and fast-paced series of 10-minute drills that enabled even the youngest kids that had never held a racquet before to go from a game of catch (without racquets) while moving laterally up and down the “alley” to a game of “beat the coach” with kids getting into rallies of 6 to 8 hits and occasionally “beating the two coaches” on the other side of the net. The clinic ended with a fun game of “hit the cones” (and chairs and tennis bags) that rewarded each successful hit with a Trick or Treat Candy.