By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

The smiles told the story.

The 20 or so young people who participated in a tennis camp at the Griggs Center on Tuesday have a long way to go before they’re ready to compete for a U.S. Open title, but what they did find out is that the sport can be a lot of fun.

The camp is being offered by McCluskey Tennis Center head professional Bill Champion, along with fellow veteran instructors Cliff Simonton and Cathy Livingston.

Those three tennis veterans teamed up to teach the hour-long class Tuesday morning.

The classes will continue the next four Tuesdays at 11 a.m., and there is no charge.

“It turned out well,” Champion said after Tuesday’s session on the two courts at the Griggs Center. “We kind of push this as a family thing. We want kids, moms, they can all do this at the same time.”

Zanthia Simpson, who participated in Tuesday’s camp along with three of her children, was a driving force in bringing the free clinic to the Griggs Center.

“We just wanted to do something in the neighborhood,” she said. “We just really wanted something to do in the community, do something for the kids here.

“It’s the video-game age, so I thought, let’s get them outside.”

Jeanell Spence-Settles, who had three children at Tuesday’s clinic, said she’s played the game “just a little bit.”

“We just wanted to bring them out here, get them outside,” she said. One of her children, Chankhenaten Settles, won one of the games, and said he couldn’t wait to come back next week.

“They all had fun,” Jeanell Settles said.

Champion was happy to help out and hopefully light a spark for the game in some young players.

“There’s so much ability here,” he said. “They just need to learn the game.”

Some of the young players weren’t complete newcomers to the sport, but most of them were holding a racket for the first time.

To help with the learning process, Champion brought along some equipment furnished by the United States Tennis Association as part of the Quick Start program.

In addition to enough rackets for everyone, there were foam balls larger than tennis balls, as well as nets lower to the ground than regulation nets.

Champion said anyone interested in learning the sport is welcome to come out to the free clinic.

“We’ve got plenty of room,” he said.