Wilmington tennis enthusiasts are premiering a new racquet sport that is easier to play for all ages, offering older players a way to stay connected to the game while also providing a springboard game to tennis for younger or inexperienced players.
The Greater Wilmington Tennis Association will introduce the sport, under development since spring 2015, to the public on Friday, April 1 from 6-8 p.m. at the Althea Gibson Tennis Complex. Appropriately called quarter court, the sport played on one-fourth of a traditional tennis court was invented by Wilmington’s Holly Tree Racquet Club professionals Joann Bristol and Koko Dawood.
The free event is open to adults ages 21 and older, who will be invited to try a session of the new sport that the developers said provides a social setting for meeting new people.
“The beauty of quarter court is how easy it is to teach the sport to a new player. They can learn it and play it at their very first session,” said Dawood, a Hall of Fame former tennis player at Queens University of Charlotte. “It’s also a lot of fun.”
The game carries many of the rules of tennis, but also features changes that make it easier for inexperienced players, which include a simplified scoring system, underhand serves and a slower moving, easier-to-hit ball. It can be played as singles or doubles. Developers of the game said it can be appealing to older players, since it is played on a smaller court with a slower ball.
The game can be laid out on standard tennis courts using a portable net that is three inches shorter than standard tennis nets. The nets are aligned perpendicularly to the standard court nets. Service lines and baselines make the sidelines of the quarter court game.
The game features a scoring system that takes much from tennis, including the traditional 15-30-40-game point structure for games, and sets that are won at six games. However, unlike tennis with its win-by-two tiebreaker system, both games and sets can be won by one.
“As tennis instructors, we’ve found that quarter court is the perfect springboard to full-court tennis,” said Bristol, who oversees the juniors program at Holly Tree Elementary School. “The basic rules, strategy and technique of traditional tennis can be taught more quickly and successfully on the smaller court.”
Holly Tree Racquet Club said it has worked on developing the sport since spring of 2015, hosting quarter court weekly play sessions and tournaments. The April 1 kickoff event is open for registration by emailing [email protected], with more details about the sport available at www.
quartercourt.net
email [email protected]
