By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
On Nov. 6, Cazenovia resident Jennifer Hooley and part-time Cazenovia resident Valerie Clarke released their book, “Gift of Tennis,” on Amazon.
Written by Clarke and illustrated/designed by Hooley, Gift of Tennis is an easy to read book crafted with the adult tennis beginner in mind.
The 45 short chapters, referred to as “Court Thoughts,” span four categories — technical, tactical, mental and practical. Each is explored in a personal and insightful way creating a new approach for players of all abilities to improve their overall game.
Gift of Tennis also provides information about scoring, tiebreaks, line calls, on-court communication, and playing in the outdoor elements.
Clarke, who lives on Cazenovia Lake from May through November, started playing tennis in 2016 at the suggestion of a friend.
“For me, it was a huge leap,” Clarke said. “I was never an athlete and I had never participated in a team sport of any sort. I absolutely loved it . . . I love learning new things and the challenge of mastering them, especially with an adult brain. I love learning the mental toughness aspect too.”
Clarke received her first tennis instruction from Cazenovia resident Gyata Stormon, who went on to serve as the tennis content editor for Gift of Tennis.
Stormon published her own book in 2019, titled “On the Ball: Doubles Tennis Tactics for Recreational Players” (also available on Amazon).
In order to independently practice the skills she learned in Stormon’s doubles lessons, Clarke began writing drills for the tennis ball machine at the Manlius YMCA.
She and Stormon eventually teamed up to write over 50 drills and to teach them to other players.
After playing for two years, Clarke completed a tennis training course in Toronto through Tennis Canada.
“Canada is the birthplace of the progressive tennis system we use to teach at the Manlius YMCA,” Clarke said. “We start with smaller courts and slower balls, and we work through four stages, and finally the players play on a full-size court with regular-speed balls. [This] allows players to have time to process what they are learning. They also learn technique as they are learning how to play the game.”
After earning her certification, Clarke started teaching at the YMCA. She also started a “Novice League” for players who had just graduated from the beginners’ class or were trying to get back into tennis after time away from the game.
In addition to providing on-court instruction, Clarke also offered her players weekly tips via email.
“I would give them one thought to think about, either a technique or tactic or something about the mental game, for their next week of play,” explained Clarke. “That was how the book was formed. Some of the players said, ‘I really love what you sent us, can I please share it with friends who aren’t in the group?’ I thought it would be nice to collect them together and turn them into a book, so they would be more widely available to people.”
Clarke first connected with Hooley after seeing the illustrator’s drawings on the 2019 Cazenovia Art Trail.
At the time, Clarke had no idea that Hooley herself was an avid tennis player who had previously been trained by Stormon and served as a Cazenovia High School tennis coach.
“She had all this tennis background that I had no idea about,” Clarke said. “I just looked at her from an artistic point of view. It was a perfect match because she had great insight into the content I was creating for the book, and it made her illustrations all the better because she could totally get it.”
Hooley has been drawing and painting since 2000, when she decided to “shake things up” after a decade working in commercial real estate.
In art school she fell in love with a whimsical, story-telling style of art.
Gift of Tennis is the first published work to feature Hooley’s artwork.
“For as long as I can remember, I have loved to draw and ‘doodle,’” Hooley said. “I have at least 30 notebooks filled with silly drawings . . .Valerie’s energy and enthusiasm was contagious, [so] when she asked me to illustrate her book, it was a resounding yes.”
According to Hooley, the new book uses about 15 simple pencil illustrations and about 35 whimsical “doodles” to illustrate different tennis concepts.
“There is everything from tennis rackets and bouncing tennis balls, to an apple, a banana split, a high court judge, a detective, a cup of tea, worms, ghosts and a frog,” she said.
Gift of Tennis is available for purchase at amazon.com .
For more information, visit giftoftennis.com or email Clarke at [email protected] .
