Concord tennis coaches continue to grow the sport across the city with summer camps
Published: 06-16-2025 7:00 PM |
To get better at tennis, or any sport for that matter, you need to play around the clock, year-round. No one knows this better than Concord High girls’ tennis coach Greg Malette.
Although he encouraged his players to stick with the sport during the offseason, it did not quite translate into NHIAA wins. But still he noticed visible improvements.
All his players – one through six, best through worst – and even the younger newcomers moved with poise and precision, getting back to the baseline and hitting their best shots. More importantly for Malette, he knows his seniors will keep playing after graduating.
“The seniors know there’s no need to play club or rec in college. All they need to do is find a friend and play whenever they want for exercise and fun,” Malette said. “Accessibility is where tennis always wins over team sports. My highest goal in coaching is to impress upon my players that they can be playing tennis long after college, and that will keep them young.”
In terms of keeping it young, Malette and CHS boys’ coach Kevin Parsons have held tennis camps for multiple summers that aim to grow the sport in the capital region.
This summer, after Mallette was reminded of the large uptick in soccer at the park, the Concord varsity team hosted an introductory camp at Keach Park with Project S.T.O.R.Y. on June 7.
Malette was told by Project S.T.O.R.Y. director Charm Emiko that the biggest barrier for kids in their programs is the financial ability to participate in the all-or-nothing sports. This is an advantage for tennis because of how easy it can be to pick up a racket and go play.
“We found the Project S.T.O.R.Y. players to be energetic, smart and coachable. They helped with setup and breakdown. As the courts dried out, we felt more comfortable getting into more dynamic drills, and sure enough, the footwork skills were evident,” Malette said after the camp.
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To keep growing the Concord program with the help of fellow coaches, Malette has identified a few reasons why Concord is outpaced by its competition in varsity play. However, some of the advantages that other places around the state have aren’t things he could fix or change as a coach on the court.
The first advantage other communities have is country clubs that offer private coaching, among other amenities, which aren’t always the most accessible option. Additionally, there are no indoor facilities that offer cost-effective and flexible options for year-round training in the Concord area.
Through many years of working in the area, they also identified that Concord does not have a tennis culture and heritage in which parents pass the sport down to their children like they do with hockey, for example.
Rather than accepting their status as impossible to improve, Malette and his team have proactively tried to change the culture around tennis.
This spring, in the middle of the Division I season, the girls’ varsity squad tabled at Rundlett to open doors for young players and stir up interest. Then, they looked around at their friends who were varsity and JV athletes without a spring sport.
For Malette, the biggest focus of outreach was proving that tennis is a “safe, fun and inexpensive sport that parents can participate in with their kids.”
The next step is a full summer camp with Advantage Kids, for all future Concord tennis players with first- to third-grade kids and fourth through eighth graders. The camp kicks off on Tuesday, but signups are still open on EventBrite.com.
All players need court-appropriate shoes, a tennis racket if owned, athletic clothes and water. The beginners between first and third grades will play from 6 to 7 p.m., and the older group will go from 7 to 8 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at Merrill Park.
Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.