The Greendale Village Club Unveils New Kid Tennis Courts

in Greendale has completed the construction of two tennis courts for kids under the age of 10, becoming just the second facility in the Milwaukee area to offer the unique teaching tool.

Mike Patneaude, tennis director and head tennis professional at The Village Club, said the two 36-foot courts follow the United States Tennis Association's 10 and Under initiative using the QuickStart Tennis play format designed to enable kids to learn, rally, play and compete at a young age.

The courts are part of a national tennis trend that tailors equipment including rackets, balls, and courts, to a child's size making the game more accessible and fun, according to a release. The goal is to encourage more kids to learn the game of tennis, a sport people can play their entire life.

In addition, The Village Club had five of the existing tennis courts newly marked with blended lines. Blended lines make an existing court playable for children by outlining two 36-foot courts and a 60-foot court.

"The Village Club has been ahead of the game as far as teaching kids tennis for years by using temporary reduced sized courts, limited flight balls, and shorter rackets,” Patneaude said. “The addition of the permanent QuickStart courts continues this trend and is an exciting development for the learning and teaching of tennis at our club."

Jay Massart, chairman of the USTA’s National Junior Tennis and Learning Program, said The Village Club is a leader in innovative tennis programming for its members.

“The club, its members, and the entire community will benefit from their foresight,” he said.

Lance Allan, sports anchor at WTMJ-TV, and Nancy Massart, executive director of the Wisconsin Tennis Association, were on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday at The Village Club. They were joined by Village Club president Tom Wood and many members of the club.

“This is another amenity that we are pleased to offer to our members, many of whom are young families,” Wood said. “The Village Club has had great success for many years with its tennis program and we expect this new initiative will add to that success.”

The Village Club is a private swimming, tennis and social club founded more than 50 years. The club has more than 300 family members. For more information, see http://thevillageclubinc.com/.