WHAT A STRETCH

Tennis coach Jarron Kretschmann may be best known in Geraldton for being the club pro at Tarcoola Park. But when they hit the road with his remote coaching service, he and coach Tobi Orebanwo cover about 4000km a week — the distance between Geraldton and Sydney — for what’s probably the biggest tennis coaching program in the country in terms of distance, stretching from Darwin to the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne and Mid West, and further south to the North Midlands, Moore Districts and Goldfields. A former tour professional who played in Europe, Australia and Mexico, Kretschmann is now more likely to be found hitting tennis balls with people in remote communities alongside the road in WA’s dusty, red desert. To tackle the tough outback travel, the service racks up the kilometres in a Toyota LandCruiser and a jacked-up Ford ute with plenty of modifications to handle the WA roads. “There’s more driving than tennis,” Kretschmann joked. Tarcoola Park will be offering holiday programs next week and taking a squad to Perth for Tennis West’s Country Championships, at Alexander Park in Menora from January 18-21. Contact the club on 9965 0925 for more information about remote and local tennis services.