The Casillas family tennis phenoms, from left, Steven, 12, Giovanni, 11, and Jessica, 17, are raising the bar for young players on Jackson courts. Photo by: Jerry Budrick Gio Casillas displays the mighty serve that he delivers with all of his 4' 7" and 175 pounds. Photo by: Jerry Budrick Lourdes Casillas poses with her three tennis-playing children, from left, Steven, Giovanni and Jessica. Photo by: Jerry Budrick

If hope for the future rests on the young, the future of tennis in Jackson is bright, indeed. On Saturday afternoons, dozens of young players arrive at the Argonaut High School tennis courts to learn the fundamentals of the game and to compete in team matches against others at similar skill levels. Nearly 60 children between the ages of seven and 15 are presently on the rosters of the 10 teams in the Junior Team Tennis League.

Many of the youthful players have reached a level of skill so high that singling out one or another is risky business for a journalist intent upon avoiding accusations of preferential treatment or discrimination. There are the Daly girls, Sarah and Meghan; the Maddens, Erinn and Sierra; and Hank and Alex Armstrong, just to name siblings on the rosters of three of the four advanced teams, all of which have a pair.

It isn't every day that an unsuspecting spectator at a kids' tennis match gets to see someone as young and diminutive as Giovanni Casillas hit a serve with a motion resembling those seen at the game's highest levels.

Every ounce of his 11-year-old, four-foot-seven, 75-pound body is funneled through his racket into the fuzzy yellow ball that more often than not finds its way into the tiny target area on his opponent's side of the net. When partnered with his older brother, Steven, they are a formidable doubles team, a force to be reckoned with and perhaps destined to do their part in creation of a family tennis dynasty.

Their sister Jessica plays girls' doubles for the Argonaut tennis team. With Sarah Post, her partner for the season, Jessica has played a significant role in lifting the Mustang team to its enviable record and postseason competition. The pair took one of the matches in Argonaut's 6-1 first-round playoff against Patterson. At the Sac-Joaquin Section Tournament, the duo made it all the way to the finals.

It's going to be a while until the Casillas brothers become eligible to play on the Argonaut team. Steven is in seventh grade at Jackson Junior High and Giovanni is in fifth grade at Jackson Elementary.

"I'm surprised at how tennis has grown," said Lourdes Casillas, mother of the three whiz kids. "When Jessica began, there were only a few."

That was 9 years ago. "Rosalie got me started when I was eight years old," Jessica recalls.

Jessica was referring to Rosalie Pryor Escamilla, realtor and tennis fanatic who recently completed eight years as a Jackson City Councilmember and mayor. It was Rosalie's desire to learn the Spanish language that germinated the tennis seed in the Casillas family.

"Rosalie liked to practice Spanish by talking with my younger brother Francisco," Lourdes explained. "He was a busboy at Rosebud's restaurant on Main Street in Jackson. Rosalie's office was upstairs. When Francisco left that job, Rosalie started talking to me." Not just talking, but getting involved with the Casillas family, eventually becoming Godmother to Jessica and taking her Goddaughter to her first tennis camp at the tender age of eight. It took only a couple of days at camp for Jessica to recognize tennis as the perfect game for her.

From brother Steven's perspective, "Jessica started the whole thing and I joined in at about nine years old." At 12, Steven is also the catcher on the Jackson Brewers Little League baseball team, while little brother Giovanni plays a number of positions for the same team, including pitcher, shortstop and center field. Baseball could become a conflict in the boys' lives, given their love for America's Pastime. At the moment, the fact that Little League doesn't play on Saturdays insulates them from being forced to make a choice between the sports. Actually, it's among the sports, since Steven also has a yen for football and Giovanni dabbles in basketball, soccer and swimming.

"I'm proud of all of them," Lourdes beamed. "I want them to be in sports. It's good for them and I make time for it." Lourdes works at Jose's Restaurant in Jackson - a lot. She does double shifts most days of the week. "My boss is very nice about allowing me to take time for the kids," she added.

"I love this town," Lourdes said of Jackson. "My husband Efren first came here when he was only 17. He came to work with his uncle. We were all from Guadalajara."

Early in their marriage, when Jessica was an infant, Efren tried to work in Jackson and send money home to Lourdes in Guadalajara, but she was having none of that. "I think the most important thing is keeping the family together," she said in recounting what prompted the family's decision to live as a family in Jackson.

"Efren works with Paul Hansch landscaping," Lourdes said. "Often he comes home from a hard day at work and the kids will ask him to go play baseball or tennis. He always says yes." Practice for the family often pits Jessica and Giovanni in doubles matches against Efren and Steven. All the players agree that those matches are delightfully even. Lourdes doesn't play tennis.

The Junior Tennis League has become something of a farm team for the county's two high schools. Rosalie named a few players - Alli Bergson is now on the varsity team at Argonaut as a freshman; Erinn Madden, who still plays in the Saturday league, will be going to Amador next year; Sierra Madden is a sixth-grader with a great game and tremendous future.

What the foreseeable future holds for Jessica is commuting to school next year at American River College, where coach Dave Harris has tentatively arranged for her to play on the tennis team.

Jessica intends to become an optometrist, as her way of giving back to a profession to which she feels indebted. Some years ago, she began to lose her vision. Dr. Fronk and his team at Sierra Eye Care in Jackson were able to diagnose and treat her condition, enabling her to see well enough with contacts to play tennis as well as she does. "With the contacts, I can see properly. The most important part of playing tennis," she said, "is to keep your eye on the ball."