Giglio's camps for more than just having fun

For Lou Giglio, the tennis director at Southern Hills Plantation Club in Brooksville, teaching tennis to kids is not a job. "If this ever becomes a job," Giglio said. "I'm quitting."
With that attitude, it's no wonder Giglio is spending the summer running a number of different tennis camps for intermediate and high school varsity players.
Giglio, a native of upstate New York who spent four years coaching at the Saddlebrook Academy in Pasco County before becoming tennis director at Southern Hills, believes these camps he runs over the summer are different.
"I won't take many kids because I don't want to be a babysitter," he said. "I like to keep the camps limited to about six kids because when I say camp, it's not saying it's someplace to drop Johnny off for the summer, it's to learn tennis."
The camps are broken up into two different groups. One is for intermediate players up to 13 years old, while the other is for high school players.
"The camps run four hours a day and even the intermediate camp is not for beginners, so these players have some ability and they have played some middle school tennis," Giglio said.
He also believes that teaching tennis for younger kids takes some effort.
"It's not easy," he said. "I think one of the keys is that for every hour you spend on the court, it has to be a 60-40 split between teaching and fun."
Giglio's method includes taking 30 or 40 minutes of every hour teaching some skill like ground strokes or footwork.
Then he takes the next 20 minutes and has the players in games that use the skill they were just taught.
"You have to make it fun and by using games, you get them to use some of the skills you taught them without them knowing it," he said.
On the other hand, with the high school camp, Giglio has a different method.
"Now with high school, we keep it intense because that's what they are their for," Giglio said. "Hopefully, you want to take these kids to the next level."
Giglio says that he uses the Nick Bollettier system in his advanced high school group.
"Before I let anyone into one of my high school camps, I have to watch them hit to see what kind of player they are," he said.
The intermediate junior camp runs July 23-25 and again on August 17-19 at 8:30 a.m., and costs $145. It includes a daily lunch and the players are asked to bring drinks, snacks, extra clothing, hats, sunglasses, sunscreen and a bathing suit.
The advanced high school camps runs July 13-16 and August 10-13 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
For more information contact Lou Giglio at 727-207-4760.