“It was the first time in history that Sutton and Gundaroo had a competition between schools,” tennis coach Scott Eulenstein said. 

“We had 228 kids participate, [and] that’s between Year Three and Year Six. 

“Both schools brought their full compliment, so I was lucky to have some support from Tennis NSW which was good.” 

Eulenstein added that he and the organisers were expecting those kinds of numbers, and the success of the inaugural event will encourage them to organise further tennis events. 

While the Zone Days which are regularly held in schools throughout the Yass Valley by Eulenstein feature miniature tournaments for the kids to play in, Wednesday’s event was slightly different. 

“We went through some skills and training from the Tennis Australia Primary Schools Resource,” Eulenstein said. 

“And we were also lucky enough to have the teachers on board to facilitate the sessions as well. 

“So that’s really a positive for them to see how the day is structured, and moving forward we’ll look to get both the Sutton and Gundaroo schools into some Zone Tennis and potentially the Todd Woodbridge Cup as well.” 

Although many of the kids were new to tennis, and the event was the first of its kind held in the region, Eulenstein said that each child took to their lessons with aplomb. 

“All the kids really embraced it,” he said. 

“The kids got out and took on each skill to the best of their ability and dealt with the heavy winds and adjusted their game and had some good fun between schools, which was really pleasing.” 

All the children who took part in the event on the day received Hot Shots participation certificates, and Eulenstein said that it was “good to get out there and really promote tennis within that region. 

“The day demonstrated that you don’t need massive facilities or a great deal of space. The kids can have a game within the playground, and it certainly is a great facility at Sutton to have that on offer.”