Young girl tries to advance her tennis game

Twelve-year-old Katie Smith of St. Charles hopes this month to take another step in her development as a tennis player. She will play in a regional U.S. Tennis Association girls tournament at Joplin, Mo.

Although highly rated in the St. Louis area, she hasn't reached the Sweet 16 level in USTA competition. She missed by one match in the Omaha, Neb., regional last spring.

She advanced to the Joplin regional by winning at a qualifying meet in Belleville, Ill., early in December.

Unlike some other top-ranked young players, Katie doesn't take private tennis lessons. Much of her instruction comes from her dad, Ed Smith, who works with her twice a week, rain or shine.

And there's plenty of other tennis in her schedule. She plays in Gateway Grand Prix mini-meets. Also, each summer, she and her family visit a resort in Dustin, Fla., where tennis in the main order of business.

She was introduced to tennis when she was eight. Her older sister, Lindsey, was in a summer camp at John Burroughs School so Katie's mother, Karen, signed her up as well.

At the first camp, the Burroughs varsity coach Toby Clark ran the camp. Now, Terry Ward is the Burroughs varsity coach and his son, Corley, teaches the summer camp.

Now, Katie is a 7th grader at John Burroughs and hopes to make the school tennis team next year. The current star at John Burroughs is three-time state champ Susan Sullivan.

Katie said her serve and her volleying are the strongest parts of her game. On the weak side is her tendency to make too many unforced errors.

She said the opponent who gives her the most trouble are ones "who can get to every shot I hit." With a scrabbler like that, the number of times you have to return the shots per point is extended. That means more chances for unforced errors.

Katie said her practices with her dad involve working on various parts of her game, not just playing games.

The practice usually opens with a warmup session of hitting short volleys. Then, they work on her groundstrokes, followed by longer volleys and serving. She also works on her approaches to the net after serves.

Then, she works on the stroke accuracy. She uses her tennis bag as a target.

Katie said she usually doesn't work much on her footwork. But, she said she noticed the tennis pros at her summer camp last summer emphasized that.

"I found out my dad told them to work me hard on that," she said.

Like many young girl tennis players, she uses a two-hand backhand stroke. She uses a one-handed forehand stroke.

Katie said she doesn't make noise when hitting her shots. Following the example of women pros, many girls make loud noises when they hit a shot.

Katie said, "I don't grunt."

She shares another interest besides tennis with her father. Ed Smith has a basement woodworking shop where he will make pieces of furniture and other things for the house.

Katie said, "I like to make things with my hands." She takes an industrial tech class at John Burroughs. One of her projects was to build a wooden racecar. She said she liked the way the car looked.

But, when she gave it a running test, Katie said, "It was really slow."

This year, Katie mixed her interest in tennis and her ability to work with her hands into an unusual project-a tennis ball Christmas tree ornament.

First she cut a tennis ball in half. Then, using one half, she spray painted the inside white. She glued cotton balls inside to mimic snow. She added a hand-drawn Santa and Christmas tree.

Then, she attached an ornament hanger so it could be hung on the family Christmas tree.

She uses an oversized tennis racket now. Her first racket now hangs on the wall of her bedroom and is used to display her tennis ribbons and medals.

Although she has a poster of men's tennis champ Roger Federer on her bedroom door, she said she doesn't have any tennis players as role models.

She's just trying to build her own tennis reputation one step at a time.