There was something different about Maryville High School tennis camp this summer.
There was one.

Maryville coach Tricia Knowles had almost 20 players show up for camp this week at the Northwest Missouri State high rise courts. She's already seeing how much difference a few days of skill training can make.

"The high school's never had a tennis camp before or it's been a long time," Knowles said. "Last week we did a fifth-eighth grade camp to seed the field a little bit, get some people playing tennis before they get to high school.

"This week having the tennis camp for a week long on basic skills has helped a lot."

Knowles was pleased with the turnout and the strides the players made.

"We had a lot of kids come out," Knowles said. "They showed huge improvement from the beginning of the week. We don't have a lot of experience from the kids that have come. A lot of them are just learning how to play tennis."

Tennis can be a frustrating sport, even for the greats. To keep things light and to prevent new players from abandoning the game, Knowles has implemented a pretty laid-back philosophy.

"I'm really stressing as long as you're improving, having fun, showing good sportsmanship — the winning will come," Knowles said. "They've had a great time."

Some of the returners are helping make that transition into the sport easier as well.

"The ones who have played really step forward as encouragers," Knowles said.

It wasn't long ago when the Spoofhounds returners found themselves in a similar position. Knowles said five of her top starters graduated, and the rest of the returners were pretty green just a year ago.

"This year I don't think I'll do as much grouping by skill because it's not as big of a spread," Knowles said. "Last year I had a really strong top five then a big gap in skill."

With so many players new to the game, a lot of individual attention is needed. Pelton said she's been lucky to get the help of a couple of former Northwest players and boys coach Ryan Tool.

"It helps to break them into small groups," Pelton said. "We did some rotations, working on different skills."

The players spent most of camp working on basic skills and the rules of the game. The Spoofhounds have made strides, but Knowles knows that five days of camp isn't enough to get players who've never touched a racquet ready for varsity play.

"Keeping hands on the racquet — just like any other sport," Knowles said. "The more you play the better you get. The Tuesday night 'open gym' has been great."

Over the summer months, Knowles has caught a glimpse of who has skill and who continues to struggle with tennis. Today she'll find out for sure what the pecking order is with a tournament on the final day of camp.

"That'll really help me one-on-one (decide) who can beat who," Knowles said. "It's a ladder. That's the good thing about tennis.

"You can play any position you want as long as you can beat everybody above you. You can work yourself into the position you want."

"Really I don't pick and choose as much," she said. "They show me the skills, and they play."

One thing they're all going to have to show her is a little less timidity.

Having never played any sports before in their lives, many of her players haven't grasped the concept of the 'killer instinct'.

"They're not as aggressive on the court as they need to be," she said.