NATCHEZ — Tennis played two different roles in the lives of local National Junior Tennis League coaches Tina G. Montagnet and Henry “Hawk” Harris.

For Montagnet, it was a way to stay busy and out of the house as a kid.

“I decided that I wanted to be certified as a tennis professional and studied under a master professional in Birmingham,” Montagnet said. “As a child I grew up (at Duncan Park). Especially when the summer time came.

For Harris, it kept him at home, in Natchez, and away from the Vietnam War draft. Harris didn’t even pick up a racket until he was about 20 years old.

“I was a football, baseball and track (runner),” Harris said. “I was No. 48 in the draft and I had a choice: find something to do, or go to Vietnam.”

Now the two Natchez coaches teach tennis in hopes of leading another generation to find where the game might lead them, and that is not necessarily to the professional tour.

“We have some doctors, lawyers, professional businessmen and women who came through the program,” Harris said. “People have said there was no way they were going to make it, but through tennis they did.”

Harris estimated 80,000 players have come through the Natchez program in its 40-year lifespan. He said 380 of those players have gone on to play collegiate tennis. Harris said the program was designed to get underprivileged youth players the opportunity to start playing tennis at a young age.

Baton Rouge is hosting the 2016 Cajun Classic Wheelchair Tennis Tournament this weekend. It is the 27th year of the tournament. Harris said he has taken a group of his students to the tournament in Baton Rouge to volunteer as ball boys and ball girls for the past four years. This year, Harris estimates a group of about eight students from 10 years old to 16 years old will make the trip south this year.

Harris said the event provides some perspective for aspiring athletes.

“It’s to let them see (wheelchair-bound) people play tennis, so they can’t say, ‘I can’t get to that ball,’” Harris said. “Some of the top wheelchair players have either one leg or one arm…it lets the kids watch other people play tennis.”

The international tournament hosts players from 18 countries and 29 states, from teenagers to seniors.

“We try to teach kids that you have to put your time in, you can’t just come out here and take one lesson,” Montagnet said. “It’s a lifetime sport…I’ve seen 80- and 90-year-olds playing.”