MONTGOMERY: Nassau tennis opening academy

Expansion offers performance training for youth

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   An addition to the Nassau Tennis Club has opened a unique opportunity for young players.
   Four new indoor courts are just part of a brand new facility that has been added to the six indoor courts that existed, and these four courts and much of the facility’s resources will be dedicated to Nassau’s new High Performance Development Academy. It’s been a long time coming.
   ”Absolutely,” said Benton Camper, Nassau’s general manager and a 15-year veteran of the club. “We started planning for the new building five years ago. We recognized there wasn’t a center for high performance in this area.”
   Marc Hill is director of the new program. Hill is a graduate of Moorestown High and The College of New Jersey. He played professionally for three years following his college career, and has been training elite up-and-coming players since he stopped playing. Now he’s directing a program he would have loved to have had as a developing player.
   ”This is way beyond anything I ever had and what most people have as high school kids right now,” Hill said. “It’s what separates us from everything else. Most of the other places, they don’t have everything.
   ”It’s all inclusive,” he explained. “Our philosophy is you can’t just have some things and not all of them to be at the top of your game. We stress having everything.”
   Nassau is hoping to address every aspect of a rising player’s game, and even goes beyond tennis. Nassau’s new facility, completed in May after nine months of construction, brings everything under one roof.
   ”In addition to four new courts, we also have a classroom for kids to do their work,” Hill said. “We have a fitness room. What we’re trying to accomplish is not just high level tennis, but to have high level kids.
   ”We didn’t set a numbers goal,” he said. “We’d like to have as many kids as possible who are willing to dedicate themselves to getting to a higher level.”
   The development program targets serious players ages 9 to 18. Participants are offered a comprehensive training program under the direction of Hill. Five staff trainers and several specialists are available to work one-on-one with players.
   ”Physical fitness is a big part of our academy,” Hill said. “We have a sports nutritionist, a sports psychologist and video analysis for them.”
   It’s all part of the package that, as their Web site says, shares “the latest methodologies and research in shot mechanics, strategy, physical conditioning and nutrition.”
   More information is available at www.nassautennis.net by clicking on the High Performance link. The program is set to officially begin next Tuesday.
   ”We’ve had people signed up already,” Hill said. “It’s a good thing. I was training most of the top kids in the area already, but we didn’t have anything official. Now we have this and it’s all together. We’re attracting more people as we go.”
   With more and more players joining the new program, the Nassau Tennis Club is hoping to have a hand in helping to make the High Performance Development Academy the one-stop-for-all building block to future stars.