Seven months ago, Marcus Gautesen, a new islander at the time, started a youth tennis program called Vashon Tennis Kids with the goal to strengthen the island’s school tennis teams and expose children to the sport. Now, after having more than 25 children participate, he is expanding the tennis program to islanders of all ages and offering summer camps.

Vashon Tennis Club is open to ages 6 and up and will offer camps for children ages 6 through 18 this summer at The Vashon Golf & Swim Club. Camps begin next week and run through August. Adult lessons and games will be coming soon.

“Our goal really is to get somewhere where kids can take lessons, the family can play and then the parents can go to the clubhouse,” Gautesen said.

The club began with that dynamic in mind. He and a small group of tennis enthusiasts, including high school tennis coaches Lisa Brougham and Pat Mulvihill and others, approached the club in the winter and asked about fixing and using its courts. The Vashon Golf & Swim Club’s membership is expected to approve a 20-year lease with Gautesen later this year, but work on the courts is underway.

“They were in bad shape,” Gautesen said of the clay tennis courts.

He has spent most of the past few months fixing the courts that were ravaged by last year’s wet winter and this year’s wet winter and spring.

“There were roots, cracks … people tried to play, but after last winter, they were unusable,” he said.

His mother, Rondi Lightmark, said refurbishing the neglected tennis courts has been “a monumental piece of work.”

“Lots of power washing, crack-filling, dirt-moving, fence-building,” she said.

The refurbishment is the beginning of what Gautesen hopes will become covered tennis courts that can be used for year-round play.

And, to whip the island tennis players into shape for year-round play, Gautesen’s friend, Czech tennis coach Jaroslav Honc, will be guest coaching all summer and donating his time for lessons.

“He’s probably the best player on the island now,” Gautesen said. “He will bring something unique.”

Gautesen moved to Vashon from Barcelona and has lived throughout Europe. He said he started playing tennis late in the Czech Republic where it was “an everyman’s sport” and noticed in the U.S. that it is usually a sport only played at country clubs. He wants to change that and help children find tennis early in life and stick with it.

“The great thing here (at the club) is the courts are right at a bus stop, so during the year they (students) can do an after-school tennis program. We want to keep those kids playing, and by the time they hit high school, they can be great players,” he said.

Summer tennis camps

Vashon Tennis Club will offer two camps for island children this summer: a multi-sport camp for children ages 6 to 12 that includes tennis, soccer, swimming and badminton in the mornings; and a tennis competition club for children ages 12 to 18 in the afternoons.

For more information, contact Gautesen at 930-4931 or vashontenniskids@gmail.com.