St. Louis Public School District educators gain confidence, tools to teach tennis in PE

Approximately 40 physical education teachers representing 33 St. Louis Public School District schools gathered at Adams Elementary in early March for a three-hour training session to help them integrate tennis into their PE curriculum.

“I think today’s session was fantastic,” said Tina Lepper, who teaches pre-K through fifth grade at Betty Wheeler Classical Junior Academy. “I now feel comfortable not only teaching tennis but playing tennis. I liked the progressions and how everything was broken down into small bits.”

The Net Generation school training was run by USTA Missouri Valley staff members Lindsay Hall, Alywn Mushonga and Laura Puryear with USTA St. Louis staff in attendance for support as well. A USTA St. Louis grant helped provide tennis nets for each participating school, while Net Generation additionally supplied racquets and balls.

For many of the participants, tennis was something other people did but the sport wasn’t part of their lives. That is likely to change.

“I took a class in high school a million years ago, and that’s it,” Lepper said. “It seems like it should be pretty easy to teach — way easier than I ever imagined it to be because of the progressions. We have a pickleball unit in the curriculum but not tennis. I’m planning on a tennis unit in April.”

The USTA utilizes the grassroots approach with these school trainings, which you can learn more about here. While students are ultimately the focus, if a grownup happens to get involved as well, that’s even better.

“I’m going to go play tennis right after this,” said Chris Norris, a first-year PE teacher at Mullanphy-Botanical Garden Investigative Learning Center. “It was super fun. I enjoyed every bit of it.

“I remember my mom taking us to the park so we could hit the tennis ball around and watching Venus and Serena Williams playing tennis. They were awesome. But I never actually had any formal training in it. This is the first time I actually learned some skills.”

The pace and amount of information delivered surprised Norris.

“I came into it thinking there was no way that it was going to take three hours,” Norris said. “We went to the gym, where they had tennis nets set up and other little knick-knacks, and I thought, ‘This might actually be fun.’ It kept flowing.

“I really appreciate all the tips and tricks they gave us on how to work with various levels and how to make it an optimal challenge for the kids. I think that’s very important. The takeaway is huge for a new teacher like me. It’s not about do it exactly right. It’s more about get the skill, have fun and stay active. I think that’s amazing.”