Anyone looking to join a competitive youth baseball team in the area doesn’t have to look far.
Same goes for most other sports, from basketball to softball to soccer and swimming.
Tennis?
Well, options are limited there.
Manteca resident Ed Melfort, a native of Oakland, hopes to change that with his newly-established Manteca Tennis Club. Melfort is joined by Manteca High boys tennis coach Frank Fontana, who led the school’s team to three Valley Oak League championships over the last four years.
The Manteca Tennis Club is offering tennis lessons to youth three times a week this summer, but Melfort and Fontana are aiming higher.
“We don’t want this to just be tennis lessons,” Melfort said. “Kids get bored after a while doing the same thing and playing the same kids every day, so we’re actually going out to other cities to get them to play somebody else.
“We’re working to form a competitive travel team.”
In May, Melfort and Fontana took 20 junior-level players to the United States Tennis Association —Northern California Section’s 7th Annual Junior Team Tennis Showdown at Stanford University.
The Manteca Tennis Club has since scrimmaged against a junior team from the Modesto Racquet Club and will travel to Oakland Friday to have another unofficial match against a squad based out of Davie Tennis Stadium.
Melfort said he’d like to take his team beyond the USTA — Northern California borders starting next year, with plans to compete in bigger out-of-area tournaments such as one in Long Beach and another in Minnesota.
“We have big plans,” Melfort said. “We want to turn this into something different. There’s nothing like this in the area. I grew up in the Bay Area where tennis is everywhere, and when I came out here I couldn’t find anything like this.”
Melfort began playing tennis for Castlemont High in Oakland as a freshman, and he’s been hooked since. He won the Oakland Athletic League Singles Tournament championship his senior year and went on to earn the No. 2 singles spot for the College of Alameda.
Melfort was mentored by former USTA — Northern California president Mark Manning, the first-ever black American to hold the post.
“Tennis has taken me to a lot of places,” Melfort said. “I definitely want to give back to the sport because of what it has done for me.”
Both Melfort and Fontana previously worked with the Future Stars 2000s tennis program at the Manteca Regional Tennis Center.
Melfort said that his teaching philosophies mesh well with Fontana’s and that they’ve always shared the same aspirations in improving the level of play in the area.
“(Other junior tennis organizations in the area) will take in kids over the summer and form teams, but other than that they just offer private lessons,” Fontana said. “We’re trying to incorporate more of a team dynamic year-round.
“These kids out here run just as much and do the same drills that my high school kids do. We’re never going to be a massive program with 100 kids. We just want kids committed to playing and improving year-round.”
So far, over 20 kids are taking lessons or compete for the Manteca Tennis Club — in most cases, they do both.
Most of the members are Mantecans, though few come from Stockton, Escalon and Ripon. There is even one student from San Jose who is staying with her grandmother over the summer receiving instruction from Manteca Tennis Club.
Melanie Nguyen and Leniya Melfort, both 7, are the youngest members of the team. One of the eldest is Ariel Rosette, an incoming senior who plays for East Union High’s boys team.
“(Melfort and Fontana) were my coaches last year, and when I heard about Manteca Tennis Club I was excited about joining,” Rosette said. “I really want to improve, so I’m doing more conditioning and drills than I had been.
“Overall, it’s a good program, and all the kids have fun.”
For more information about Manteca Tennis Club, contact Ed Melfort at (209) 423-8295.
Same goes for most other sports, from basketball to softball to soccer and swimming.
Tennis?
Well, options are limited there.
Manteca resident Ed Melfort, a native of Oakland, hopes to change that with his newly-established Manteca Tennis Club. Melfort is joined by Manteca High boys tennis coach Frank Fontana, who led the school’s team to three Valley Oak League championships over the last four years.
The Manteca Tennis Club is offering tennis lessons to youth three times a week this summer, but Melfort and Fontana are aiming higher.
“We don’t want this to just be tennis lessons,” Melfort said. “Kids get bored after a while doing the same thing and playing the same kids every day, so we’re actually going out to other cities to get them to play somebody else.
“We’re working to form a competitive travel team.”
In May, Melfort and Fontana took 20 junior-level players to the United States Tennis Association —Northern California Section’s 7th Annual Junior Team Tennis Showdown at Stanford University.
The Manteca Tennis Club has since scrimmaged against a junior team from the Modesto Racquet Club and will travel to Oakland Friday to have another unofficial match against a squad based out of Davie Tennis Stadium.
Melfort said he’d like to take his team beyond the USTA — Northern California borders starting next year, with plans to compete in bigger out-of-area tournaments such as one in Long Beach and another in Minnesota.
“We have big plans,” Melfort said. “We want to turn this into something different. There’s nothing like this in the area. I grew up in the Bay Area where tennis is everywhere, and when I came out here I couldn’t find anything like this.”
Melfort began playing tennis for Castlemont High in Oakland as a freshman, and he’s been hooked since. He won the Oakland Athletic League Singles Tournament championship his senior year and went on to earn the No. 2 singles spot for the College of Alameda.
Melfort was mentored by former USTA — Northern California president Mark Manning, the first-ever black American to hold the post.
“Tennis has taken me to a lot of places,” Melfort said. “I definitely want to give back to the sport because of what it has done for me.”
Both Melfort and Fontana previously worked with the Future Stars 2000s tennis program at the Manteca Regional Tennis Center.
Melfort said that his teaching philosophies mesh well with Fontana’s and that they’ve always shared the same aspirations in improving the level of play in the area.
“(Other junior tennis organizations in the area) will take in kids over the summer and form teams, but other than that they just offer private lessons,” Fontana said. “We’re trying to incorporate more of a team dynamic year-round.
“These kids out here run just as much and do the same drills that my high school kids do. We’re never going to be a massive program with 100 kids. We just want kids committed to playing and improving year-round.”
So far, over 20 kids are taking lessons or compete for the Manteca Tennis Club — in most cases, they do both.
Most of the members are Mantecans, though few come from Stockton, Escalon and Ripon. There is even one student from San Jose who is staying with her grandmother over the summer receiving instruction from Manteca Tennis Club.
Melanie Nguyen and Leniya Melfort, both 7, are the youngest members of the team. One of the eldest is Ariel Rosette, an incoming senior who plays for East Union High’s boys team.
“(Melfort and Fontana) were my coaches last year, and when I heard about Manteca Tennis Club I was excited about joining,” Rosette said. “I really want to improve, so I’m doing more conditioning and drills than I had been.
“Overall, it’s a good program, and all the kids have fun.”
For more information about Manteca Tennis Club, contact Ed Melfort at (209) 423-8295.
