By Marcus Uhe
Driving past the recently refurbished, yet “dormant” Kooweerup Tennis Centre, Charlie Crawford saw an opportunity to make a difference.
Rather than simply establish another local tennis club, the professional tennis coach of 12 years wanted to grow a community, using the sport as a vehicle for change.
At his own financial behest, Crawford decided to invest in the youth, offering a term-worth of Friday afternoon ‘community play tennis’ sessions with professional coaches, free of charge for children.
Word quickly spread, as the number of participants steadily increased.
“We were blessed with pretty good weather on Fridays, but from week one through to four, it was almost doubling every week,” Crawford said.
“We’ve had a fantastic uptake, seeing over 75 kids come through over that period, most coming nearly every week.
“Given it sat there doing nothing for so long, I think it was really important to show that there was going to be some consistency and willingness from our end to make it happen, rather than have one go and then ask people to start paying right off the bat..
“We were committed to being there the whole term regardless, but to have the response it’s had, has been fantastic.”
While the free sessions won’t continue next term, Tuesday and Friday afternoons will offer affordable, family-friendly sessions that he likened to other entry-level sporting programs, such as Auskick.
It’s hoped that these can offer a gateway to the sport, before paying premium costs for professional lessons and coaching.
“We’re looking for maximum participation in a low-pressure environment and looking to include families on-court together, and facilitating that, which isn’t really done anywhere,” he said.
“And I think, when you’ve got communities like Kooweerup, it’s a fantastic community and these sorts of programs lend itself to a town like this.
“The amount of kids we’re getting out, having fun, is brilliant.
“We’ve been able to hopefully, get a decent up-take and most of these kids coming back.
“But we’ve priced it extremely affordably, to try and encourage people to continue to play.”
The end goal, in the establishment of a proper tennis club and a tennis-playing community in Kooweerup, is what Crawford is hoping will be the by-product of the program.
“I guess the desire comes from, what a cool outcome (it would be), if we can take a little bit of a hit now and show the community that this is what we’re here to do, and we can turn it into something that can go on and be an autonomous club.
“It’s certainly a challenge, and it’s something that, as far as I’m aware, hasn’t been undertaken by a tennis coach or a coaching company before.
“To be able to pull this off, from a personal point of view, would be pretty special.”
