The Thomasville Butler-Mason YMCA hosted a Winter Tennis Camp for kids ages four to eight over the winter holidays. 

The camp was from December 20-21 from 8:30-12:00 and was run by Thomasville native Danyelle Copeland. 

Copeland is a tennis instructor who played tennis at the college level, while also having the opportunity to pursue her goal and becoming a professional tennis player when she was 16. 

Copeland was 16- years old when she tore her meniscus, so she had to hold off on her goal of becoming a professional tennis player. 

During her journey, Danyelle’s love started when she was 12- years old. From that point on, she said she knew her calling was coaching. 

“Growing up I knew I loved working with young kids around tennis, so I went and got my tennis certification because I knew coaching young kids was always my passion growing up as a kid,” said Copeland. “I’ve worked with over 400 or 500 kids, and family wise I’ve worked with over 200.”

Copeland talked about how much she enjoyed her time at other places, but being a part of the YMCA program was special. 

“I can work with different kids and people know where they can find me,” she said.

One of the things she enjoys about working with the YMCA is the ability to work with children. 

“I would probably say building relationships and their growth as a person is one of my favorite parts,” she said. “Being a Christian, it’s been really good to help these kids and inspire their lives every day.”

“I love it, and this is what I’m going to be doing for a long time,” she continued. 

Copeland said she models her game after several well-known tennis pros and encourages her students to find their own role models. 

“I grew up taking my game after Pete Sampras. He was before Roger Federer, and his serve was flawless,” said Copeland.  “Venus and Serena were upcoming young stars, and it was amazing to see them grow up and how big they became.”

Copeland concluded the camp by reminding the players that “the beauty of tennis is that it’s a long-lasting relationship, because you meet people from all over the world.”