Juniors - Coaching, Social & Competition

Our Junior Programme is having a great 2021-22 season. We have 129 juniors who range in age from 5-18 years.  This season we have 67 Hot Shots players as well as 9 teams comprised of 62 juniors playing in the Auckland Tennis Interclub Competition.  We are fortunate to have fantastic support from volunteers, team captains and and team managers who are appointed parents. 

The Hot Shots Programme for our younger juniors has been running now for 6 seasons and is a strong feature at Sunnyhills. Hot Shots ‘Community Play’ encourages more juniors to try tennis and we encourage free trials for interested youth and have encouraged ‘bring a friend’ to Matchplay tournaments.

​Included with our Junior membership fee is Club Coaching appropriate to individual abilities, namely Red, Orange, Green and our Interclub players. These coaching groups are all run by two qualified coaches and an assistant coach who is a current playing junior at the club as we like to encourage these teenagers to be involved with helping out with the younger members. The club pays for the teenagers to gain assistant coach qualifications when available and attend courses. 

As part of the Hot Shots programme all players receive branded merchandise and are given the opportunity to be chosen for the Hot Shots kids on court at the ASB Classic.  We also accompany a number of Juniors along to the ‘Kids Day’ during the ASB Classic each year.

Other events on the Junior calendar include the annual Christmas party with free coaching, social tennis, the sharing of great food and Santa arriving with presents for all.

We hold our Junior Prize giving at the end of the season in conjunction with a fun ‘Parent-Child Marbles Tournament’ which is a very popular annual event. Our Prize giving rewards winners of our Club Champs with certificates, medals and trophies, a Sportsmanship Award, Coaches award and special ‘Jasmine Hepi Award’ for a Junior that shows outstanding commitment/passion/talent  for the game.

We aim to build a positive club spirit by giving opportunities across all junior levels, encouraging participation and enjoyment of tennis in a fun and friendly environment. 

Matchplay Fridays are a popular part of the Junior Programme, especially with the 8-13 year age bracket. This allows Juniors to play games, practice their line calls, socialise and gives them the opportunity to grow their sportsmanship and fair play in a familiar environment. Pizza nights, sausage sizzles and mini tournaments are popular events run on Matchplay nights with medals and spot prizes on offer.

​Juniors at Sunnyhills partake in the annual Charman Cup Tournament which has been held for over 30 years amongst the local clubs of Sunnyhills, Pakuranga, Cockle Bay, Howick and Bucklands Beach. We feel it's a great opportunity to introduce several of our juniors to their first experience of playing in a tournament.