Update: Fun, instructional tennis classes return, Aug. 24-27

Update: A new session of this class will be offered Aug. 24-27 from 9-10 a.m. at the Ocean Pines Racquet Center. The first four people to register will pay a reduced rate of $100; the fee for all others is $140.

(July 30, 2020) Ocean Pines will offer a four-day instructional tennis class for adults from Aug. 10-13 at the Ocean Pines Racquet Center on 11443 Manklin Creek Road. 

Classes will start at 9 a.m. each day and focus on basic strokes used in tennis, including forehands, backhands, overheads, serves and volleys. 

Each class will run about an hour and include drills and exercises designed to help beginners learn the game of tennis. 

Ocean Pines Tennis Pro Terry Underkoffler said instructor Bill Gilroy came up with the idea and will teach the course. Gilroy is a professionally licensed tennis instructor and taught similar classes at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. 

“It’s designed for people who want to learn how to play tennis and it’s a great way to get people over to the tennis center,” Underkoffler said. “He’s going to be doing the initial phase of this and, if it grows in popularity, I’ll be teaching it as well.” 

Underkoffler said the course was so popular at the Naval Academy that the same group of six women signed up multiple times, “because they were learning so much.”  

“Players who take this class will come away with some of the basic techniques of playing tennis,” he said. “They’ll have an awareness of forehand and how they should move, and awareness of backhands, an awareness of how to serve, and an awareness of where to be on the court. It will give them a little bit of confidence and help them get started to play.” 

Underkoffler said the class is open to all ages, including teenagers.  

“This is a great time in people’s lives to learn to play a lifetime sport, especially in the situation we’re in right now where team sports are so limited because of the pandemic,” Underkoffler said. “Tennis and golf are two really good lifetime sports that we offer here in Ocean Pines. John Malinowski is a great instructor [of golf] and we’ve got great instructors over here at the racquet center. There’s no better time to learn these things!” 

The deadline to register is Aug. 8 and the cost is $140. Classes are limited to no more than six people. 

The Ocean Pines Racquet Center also offers a “stroke of the day” clinic every Wednesday morning at 8 a.m., free for racquet sports members, as well as a junior tennis academy every Thursday night. The junior tennis academy is open to two age groups, elementary and middle schoolers, and the cost is $130. 

For more information or to register for Ocean Pines Racquet Sports classes, call Underkoffler at 215-808-6457 or email [email protected].