Tassie girls who tackled Covid with tennis games off to Euro academy
Two talented Tasmanian sisters who turbocharged their tennis throughout Covid will soon be bouncing balls back and forth on clay courts as they relocate to attend an elite Spanish academy
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Two talented Hobart sisters turbocharged* their tennis game so much during the 2020–21 Covid lockdowns they have been accepted into an exclusive* European tennis academy* run by former world No. 1 Juan-Carlos Ferrero.
Zola Case-Boag, 13, and sister Escher, 12, were inspired by Ash Barty to chase their tennis dreams and will be among the youngest participants in Ferrero’s Elite* Tennis Academy in Spain from next month.
Graduates of the intensive*, full-time program include world No. 4 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 23 Pablo Carreno-Busta.
Proud dad Zan Boag – who won the 2021 Hobart Open Doubles Championships alongside the girls’ coach Edward Bourchier – said Zola and Escher took their game to the next level during the pandemic, aided by the building of a backyard tennis court on the family’s large property.
“The girls went from playing a lot of tennis and tournaments* to looking like they couldn’t play much at all,” Mr Boag said.
“But then suddenly they were playing four to six hours a day because they didn’t have much else to do; it was quite a good thing for them.”
Mr Boag said the whole family would relocate to support the girls – they’ve “sold the farm”, so to speak. The youngest two, brothers Wolfe and Huxley, are set to enrol in the local Spanish school, while Mr Boag and wife Antonia are able to continue their jobs as magazine publishers from home offices.
“They’ve been accepted full-time and can stay as long as they wish,” Mr Boag said. “Initially we’re looking at one to two years, but they will stay on if things go well.
“It’s just amazing to see my daughters really grasping and running with this, putting their all into it.”
Zola said she was looking forward to developing her clay court game.
“It’s my favourite surface,” she said.
“The main things I want to learn while I’m there is how to slice* like Barty and hit a kick serve like Federer.
“It’s exciting to be going over, but I’m going to miss my friends and it’s hard knowing I won’t see the Hobart International tennis tournament next year – it was watching that each year with my family that first got me into tennis.”
Escher said she wanted to work on her movement around the court, as well as nailing the Federer kick serve*.
The girls’ coach Edward Bourchier said the duo had come leaps and bounds in the 18 months he had been working with them.
“They’ve come a long way in understanding the game of tennis and what is required in terms of training, how to apply yourself in training to continue progressing your game to become a professional player,” he said.
“You see a lot of juniors go out and play but (they) don’t (all) understand the focus and quality of session required to keep getting better and better quickly.”
GLOSSARY
- turbocharged: growing or increasing at a faster rate than usual
- exclusive: limited to particular people or special group, not available to all, special
- academy: place of study or training in a particular field or sport
- elite: group selected or regarded as the finest, best, most distinguished, most powerful
- intensive: highly concentrated, requiring great energy and effort across a specified time frame
- tournament: series of games or contests making up a single unit of competition
- slice: backspin technique where racquet travels downward then slices underneath the ball
- kick serve: when ball jumps or kicks up off the ground as a result of heavy topspin on serve
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QUICK QUIZ
- Which tennis player runs the European tennis academy the sisters will attend?
- Which retired Australian champion inspired the girls to chase their dreams?
- What did the family build on their property during Covid that gave their game such a boost?
- Watching which annual tournament got Zola into tennis in the first place?
- What are the two areas of her game Escher wants to focus on while in Spain?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Ask the questions
Imagine that you are a reporter for Kids News. Your job is to write a story about Zola and Escher called “The secret of our success”. The purpose of your story is to help inspire other kids to work hard to achieve their goals. Write three questions that you would ask Zola and Escher for this story. Then write the answers that you think that they would give you.
Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education
2. Extension
In the story, Zola said that she is going to miss her friends. Write five tips for Zola (or any kid moving to a new place) to help her make new friends.
Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education; Personal and Social Capability
VCOP ACTIVITY
Imaginative dialogue
Imagine you were there during the event being discussed in the article, or for the interview.
Create a conversation between two characters from the article – you may need or want to include yourself as one of the characters. Don’t forget to try to use facts and details from the article to help make your dialogue as realistic as possible.
Go through your writing and highlight any punctuation you have used in green. Make sure you carefully check the punctuation used for the dialogue and ensure you have opened and closed the speaking in the correct places.