Jimmy Morrison hits an ace of persuasion over Tennis Victoria

By Taylah Baker

Nov 27, 2024

Year 4 student Jimmy Morrison with the men’s and women’s trophies from the Australian Open. Photo by Contributed

Jimmy Morrison has learnt a valuable lesson at school: the pen is mightier than the racket.

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With an earnest desire to bring Tennis Victoria’s Hot Shot program to Shepparton, the Year 4 student at Bourchier St Primary School wielded his pen to craft a persuasive letter, envisioning his reader as a competitor.

Jimmy served up some compelling reasons for Tennis Victoria to consider his hometown as a target for the program, using precision of language that could not be faulted.

“The structural form was really hard because I had to make it really, really persuasive so that they would reach out to me,” he said.

“I started off with a good line telling them the absolute truth – Melbourne is at least or below 190km away from here.”

The key to a persuasive letter is a strong finish, and Jimmy sliced through any counterarguments with this one: P.S. Send the email back by tomorrow, or else…

“It made a really strong segment that would never be pulled apart,” he said.

“It would be amazing for them to run a Hot Shot program here ... but they didn’t do that; they did this instead.”

On Friday, November 8, representatives from the Australian Open caused quite a racket at the school, surprising the young wordsmith with the prestigious Australian Open trophies.

“I was really surprised and so excited,” Jimmy said.

“We had a bit of a tennis clinic at school, and afterwards, I got to meet them and see the Australian Open trophies.

“And guess what? I got to hold the men’s one.”

Cradling the coveted trophy with pride, Jimmy was astonished by its weight – 10kg and valued at $100,000.

Could anything be better than that?

“The school put a post on Facebook about the whole thing, and underneath it was a message from Tennis Victoria saying they just couldn’t say no,” Jimmy said.

It goes without saying that Tennis Victoria had met their match.