Change of venue doesn’t derail youth tennis camp

GLENDALE — An annual youth summer tennis camp that has become a staple in Glendale has moved around within the city during its eight-year existence.

The National Junior Tennis Learning/LA84/USTA Camp began at Glendale High in 2009 and moved to the Fremont Tennis Center a year later. The camp made another move last year and was back at Glendale High. This year’s installment was relocated once again, this time to the Scholl Canyon Tennis Center.

Although the camp’s venue has changed over the years, one constant has remained, the presence of director Ron Zambrano, who has run the event since its inception.

“It’s kind of tough to have the camp at different places over the years,” said Zambrano, who coaches the tennis teams at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and St. Francis. “But a lot of the kids that we do get out for the camp have been with us for a few years, so they are going to show up wherever we’re going to have the camp.

“We wanted to have it again this year at Glendale High, like we did last year. Last year we got the courts and we told them we want to come back here every year. But then I got a surprise call from the Glendale school distract and they say that the city of Glendale had reserved the courts for the whole summer. So then we had to move it [to Scholl].”

Zambrano said the camp, which featured players age 6-14, was able to pay for the court time at Scholl through a donation from NJP Sports, a sports equipment supplier in Glendale.

One of the players who is a regular at the annual camp is 12-year-old Glendale resident Mineh Sarokhani, who has been coming to the event for five years.

“I just go wherever the camp goes, because the place really doesn’t matter, it’s the teachers that matter the most and they’re really good,” she said. “I keep coming back, because it’s a good activity during the summer and I’m always learning new things. It’s also good because you can be with your friends and the teachers are really nice and they really teach you a lot so you can learn more.”

Said Ania Konarki, 12, of Montrose, who attended her fourth straight camp: “What is really great about this camp is that the teachers are really into the sport and you can tell they like to be out here teaching and that makes everything twice as fun when you know your teacher’s into it. ... I don’t mind waking up early in the morning to come here because it’s fun and things can get boring during the summer. Tennis is just a great activity and I learn something new every time.”

The six-week tennis camp began June 20 and concluded Thursday and was sponsored by the LA84 Foundation in conjunction with the Southern California Tennis Assn. and the National Junior Tennis League. The camp was one of 150 put on in and around Los Angeles during the summer.

Along with Zambrano, the camp featured a group of assistant coaches, some of whom played locally in high school or college. In addition to the instruction, the athletes were also supplied with rackets and T-shirts, provided for a fee of just $10. The cost is subsidized mainly from funds from the LA84 Foundation, which has been supplying funding for athletic programs for more than 30 years with profits from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

“It’s just amazing that there are still funds from the ’84 Olympics that can be used for youth camps like this,” Zambrano said. “I would have to check, but I think we are getting at least $1,500 from the LA84 for our camp this year.”

At the camp, along with learning basic tennis skills like backhands, forehands and how to serve and rally, athletes also took part in drills, played games and were presented with a certificate for their participation.

“It’s nice to see the kids and their interest in the sport,” said assistant Clayton Pauff, a former All-Area player at Burbank High who also competed at Glendale Community College. “It’s nice to see improvement in the players and the great thing is seeing them enjoying the sport. A camp like this is a good way for them to either learn the sport for the first time or get better as players.”

Heno Baronian had heard about the tennis camp from others, but wasn’t sure if his son, Alex, 8, would enjoy it, having never played the sport before.

“We wanted to have Alex try it after we heard about the camp from some other parents,” Hano Baronian said. “But he has come to every class and he hasn’t missed one. He really likes it and he wants to continue playing tennis and we want to talk to the coach about Alex continuing playing.

“This has been really good for him, it gets him away from playing video games, so this is the best thing to happen to him. ...We are definitely going to come back next year.”