MOSES LAKE — Middle school tennis players hoping to become the next Rafael Nadal or Maria Sharapova have had the opportunity to practice every afternoon this fall.

Local U.S. Tennis Association coordinator Nina Nye has spent her afternoons along with fellow coaches Ben Nye, Tony Holiday, Anthony Holiday, Pete Kunjara and Rich Gregoire, teaching participants the basic ins and outs of tennis.

The program began with some help from Nina and has held steady with a handful of kids coming out to play every fall and spring. This year Nina has averaged 35 players every afternoon. The majority of those players come from Chief Moses Middle School but Nina emphasized the program is open to middle school students from all schools in Moses Lake and pointed out that Frontier Middle School has had five players participating along with four players from the Moses Lake Christian Academy.

Those participating in the program have reaped the benefits of Nina's involvement with the USTA and her passion for the sport of tennis.

"All the kids have to have are sneakers," said Nina. "I have free rackets for all the kids. I have a ton of them and some of the kids have been borrowing them. Chief Moses provided the tennis balls."

Aside from sneakers, kids had the option of paying $8 for a T-shirt that was made for the program, a T-shirt Nina hoped would give the participants a feeling of unity.

Because of the age of the students, most of the play has been part of an intersquad tournament that has included singles and doubles games.

Nina is excited about the growth of the program and is hoping for more turnout in the spring. She was pleased to see parents beginning to take an interest and happy to see some of the participants playing in USTA tournaments in Eastern Washington.

"We have parents coming to watch now," Nina said. "Also Courtney (Kunjara) played in the Ellensburg tournament."

Nina's next goal for the program that she believes will benefit every tennis player in the area is an indoor or covered court in Moses Lake.

"I would like to see these courts (at Chief Moses Middle School) or other courts covered," said Nina. "Right now, the high school kids stop playing in the fall and then in February coaches say, 'You have one week to get fit.'"

Nina said she was thankful to the many people who have helped the middle school tennis program grow, including Jan Walters at Chief Moses Middle School. "She (Walters) is a remarkable woman. I could not have survived without her."