MARION (WSIL) — Wimbledon may be in full swing across the pond, but plenty of tennis is going on this week right here in southern Illinois, many picking up the sport for the first time.
Twelve-year-old Bronco Morgan has always been a natural athlete, playing several sports growing up.
"I used to play hockey, I used to do wrestling, used to play football, I play baseball, basketball, and now tennis," said Bronco Morgan.
"Some people are really athletic, and he’s one of those kids that came out the first day, and I would’ve thought he had played before, but he told me he had not picked up a racket before in his life, so that’s exciting to see those kids that have never played before coming out to play the sport," said tennis instructor Joe Pearce.
The young Goreville-native can add tennis to the list now thanks to the Pearce Juniors Tennis Camp going on this week at the Harrison Bruce Park tennis courts in Marion.
"My dad signed us up, and I didn’t know until the night before… because I’ve always wanted to play tennis, so I was like okay, and I came and it was a lot of fun," said Morgan.
This comes as part of a local effort to grow the sport within the younger generation across the region.
"Really as a community, with the rest of the teaching pros around here, trying to get the kids, the smaller kids, involved at that age, where by the time they get to high school, they’ve already been established, their feet are already wet, so to speak, so they walk onto the tennis teams already knowing what they’re doing," said Pearce.
"Just like, the correct way to serve, hit the ball, and something really fun we do is just playing the game and everything," said Morgan.
Bronco believes because of this camp, tennis is a sport he’s going to stick with for a while.
"I don’t know, it’s just fun. Like I really like ping-pong, and tennis is just a bigger version of it, so I really like it," said Morgan.
The Pearce Juniors Tennis Camp runs through Friday, all newcomers are welcome.
