Local Hot Shots hit out in Geelong Lawn finals

HOT Shots tennis in Geelong continues to grow, with a record field of more than 180 young players taking the court at the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club last week.

Pupils from 11 primary schools sent 20 teams to the Bellarine and Geelong North Division Finals of Hot Shots – an introductory form of tennis that uses modified equipment, numeric scoring and mixed teams.

In the Bellarine division, Ocean Grove Primary School won the Boys/Mixed competition while Leopold Primary School won the Girls competition.

In the Geelong North division, Geelong College won the Boys/Mixed competition while Kardinia International College won the Girls competition.

These schools will now represent the Geelong region at the SSV Western Metro Region Finals on November 9 in Williamstown with a chance to go through to the State Championships held at Melbourne Park on November 28.

The winning boys/mixed and girls teams at the state final will then have the opportunity to get on court during the 2018 Australian Open.

Thursday’s event was played on the clay courts at the Geelong Lawn Tennis Club, which Tennis Australia’s Ben Dew said was a first for Hot Shots locally but a little difficult for the organisers as the courts needed frequent watering.

He said about half of the pupils in the division final had never played in a tennis competition before, but the Hot Shots format was ideal as the nets and lines could be set up on any hard surface, and pupils could play together as a team.

“We’ve seen, quite a bit with the boys, that they’ve played cricket before or T20 Blast, and so they’ll transition over to Hot Shots because it’s familiar – the same hand-eye co-ordination and fundamental movement skills.

“To be able to play in these district-level competitions at school has just made the participation numbers go through the roof.”