WHEN thinking of the Medibank International Sydney Tennis Tournament, Junee may not be the first thing that comes to your mind.

However, on Monday, members of the Junee Tennis Club were presented with volunteer awards at the tournament from Tennis NSW president Steve Healy.

At a special presentation during the president’s reserve luncheon, Junee Tennis Club president Jason Barrett and secretary Cheryl Purcell were each presented with a plaque in recognition of their commitment as volunteers to starting the Junee Tennis Club’s junior program – the AVIVA Hotshots.

Junee was the pilot club to introduce the program which has now been started in Jerilderie, Finley and Balranald, according to president Jason Barrett.

Excited about the award which was presented from a selection of other tennis clubs from across the South West NSW region, Mr Barrett said it was great to hear the program Junee implemented had been picked up by other clubs after a number of interested calls.

But until this week, they had no idea that the program they had begun had spread.

“We had heard a couple of clubs were interested in coming over to Junee to see what we had done, but nothing had come of it.

“It’s exciting.”

To ensure the program’s success the club held trial days and school visits in the area to encourage kids to learn to play.

For the 2010 season the juniors will be known as the MLC Hotshots.

The pair travelled to Sydney after being invited by Tennis NSW as a thank you for their support over the year.

Mr Barrett said they were able to watch Australian tennis stars Nick Lindahl and Casey Dellacqua alongside internationals such as Sam Querrey and Marcos Baghdatis.

Find out more: The MLC Hotshots junior tennis will start up again on Sunday, February 7 at 9am at the Junee Tennis Courts. For more information contact Jason Barrett on 0412 898 437.