There's a lot more activity lately at the Randy Pate Tennis Academy at Hanes Park, and Pate thinks he knows why.
For eight days in late August, the ATP Tour's Winston-Salem Open, with its professional field, was the talk of the town. Pate said he thinks the tournament has led to more parents getting their children involved in tennis.
"It's a big boon right now," Pate said of his youth program, which has shown a big jump in fall registrations. "For the fall session, the early sign-ups are a lot higher than they were at this point last year."
In 2010, Pate registered 24 children in the 10-and-younger beginner classes. This year, even with a few days left before registration closes, about 60 children have already signed up.
Pate has hired another instructor for what he calls the Quick Start programs, in anticipation of more children signing up. For the first time in the 3½ years that Pate has run the academy, he might have to close registration so classes don't get too crowded.
"We've actually hired an extra instructor because of the bigger classes, but maybe next year, we'll have to hire two more instructors," Pate said.
Pate offers classes for different ages and skill levels and said that sign-up numbers for older, advanced players stayed about the same as last year.
During the Winston-Salem Open, Pate, in conjunction with North Carolina Tennis, put on a free clinic for children at the indoor facility of the Wake Forest Tennis Center. Organizers expected about 100 children, but 250 or so showed up, and some had to be turned away.
"It was unbelievable," Pate said. "They weren't really sure how many kids would show up, but there were a lot."
Pate hopes that with more children taking lessons and playing the game, the tennis craze will continue.
Jan Ayers of Winston-Salem signed up her 8-year-old son, Tate, on Thursday but said it wasn't just because of the Winston-Salem Open. She said they never made it to the tournament but heard a lot about it.
"He actually had played a couple of years earlier, and we had planned to sign him up for this fall with Randy Pate," Ayers said. "But I will say that seeing all the media coverage and seeing the tournament on television, I think that really sparked his interest even more."
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