Game, Set, Teach: East St. Louis educators learn tennis for PE curriculum

Physical education teachers from around East St. Louis School District 189 gathered Aug. 7 at East St. Louis Senior High School to help them incorporate tennis into their curriculum for the school year just underway. The school training was an overwhelming success.

“I was skeptical about how you could get 20 kids to learn at the same time,” said Chad Battle, a PE teacher at Wyvetter Younge School of Excellence. “But Lindsay did a good job of explaining how you can set it up and how people can stay engaged.”

Lindsay is Lindsay Hall, USTA Missouri Valley senior manager, community play. She conducted the three-hour training session at one of East St. Louis Senior High School’s gyms.

“The school training has a win-win feel to it,” she said. “It’s a win for us at the USTA because we get to support tennis in the community and in the schools specifically. It’s a win for teachers because we help build their comfort level in delivering tennis.

“We know that if you’ve never played tennis, it can be intimidating to try to deliver that. With the teachers actually experiencing playing tennis, it really opens up their eyes.”

The training implemented tennis activities for teachers for grades K-12. Hall added in progression-based activities, so the teachers could learn how to train kids at different skill levels and different ages.

The training ended with large group games, which Hall said “is always fun because everybody’s competitive edge starts to come out. There’s a team feel to it.”

The group games at the end were a favorite for some of the participants, like Charlotte McDaniel, a PE teacher at Wyvetter Younge.

“My favorite part was the big game at the end, because I was able to keep moving,” she said. “I was able to do some things I didn’t think I was able to do. I thought I might sit this one out, because there’s a lot of movement going on. After I got engaged, I was the first one in line.”

For veteran tennis coaches like Rachel Stribling, the girls’ tennis head coach at East St. Louis Senior High School, the event was a blessing.

“It’s been in my prayers that tennis would be incorporated into the curriculum,” she said. “Because when the kids get to me in high school, I’m teaching them day one. If tennis was taught to them like the other sports, it wouldn’t be so difficult for them to pick up the game.”

Stribling had 60 kids sign up as interested in tennis at the fall orientation, including 22 boys. She knows that not all 60 will end up showing up, but the stats mean the interest in tennis is building.