Although his birth certificate says he’s only 12, David Volfson, left, has the demeanour and maturity of someone much, much older. He’s also got a burning desire to excel and a work ethic that would put many grown-ups to shame. Add it all together and you’ve got a mighty dynamic tennis player who is ranked No. 2 in Canada for boys under age 14.
Volfson, a Grade 7 student at Leo Baeck Day School, attained that rarified ranking after first place finishes in singles and doubles at Tennis Canada’s U14 Rogers Junior National Championships in Edmonton in April.
Those were, he said, his proudest moments as a player – those and a semifinal finish in an under-12 event in Auray, France, last February and a quarter-final position in the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Oh, and there’s the first place finishes in singles and doubles at the Jug Open in Skopje, Macedonia, last month and the loss in the final to No. 1 seed Bogdan Borza of Romania at the Subotica Open in Serbia a little after that.
Those tournaments pitted Volfson against top competitors from around the world.
“It’s unbelievable what I achieved in those two weeks,” said Volfson of his trip to the former Yugoslavia. “I’ve worked very hard and I’m happy for what I’ve achieved, and I’ve got to continue to work hard.”
“I love to play tennis,” he said. “I’m very competitive and that’s why I think I get these great results, because of my character.”
His success on the tennis court has vaulted Volfson to the national program, and for the past four years he’s been training at the Rexall Centre at York University with Canada’s tennis elite. Not only does he get the best coaching, he has access to nutritionists, sports psychologists and all the other elements of the program designed to develop world class players.
It certainly seems to be helping him beat the odds. In addition to being a year younger than most of his competition (he doesn’t turn 13 until September), at five-foot-two and 97 pounds, he’s kind of on the small side.
“A lot of the kids I play are much bigger,” he acknowledged. “I’ve got to play smart and tactically to win my matches.”
So what does that mean on the court?
“When bigger players hit the ball harder, I neutralize it and send the ball deep so they can’t keep attacking me. Then I move up close to the net and attack them.”
His coach, Guram Kostava at the Players Edge Tennis Academy, has been working with Volfson to develop his skills and strategy. He also accompanies him on his tennis forays abroad.
Kostava said Volfson’s future is virtually unlimited. “He’s going to make history, that’s what I think. Time will tell, but he has all the potential.
“He’s very good at everything, good at the baseline, he’s got good first and second serves and he’s mentally strong. He has a good fighting spirit.
“He keeps the ball inside and fights until the last point. He’s like a machine. He never breaks down.”
Kostava believes Volfson will be “the foundation of Tennis Canada” for years to come, and his results abroad prove it. He’s moved up in European rankings to 38th place, and “he still has one year to be under 14. Perhaps he’ll be in the top 10 or top five,” he said.
Volfson took his first tennis lesson when he was four-and-a-half and immediately loved the sport.
“I enjoy hitting the ball. I like the feeling when I hit the ball on my racquet,” he said.
And hit it he does. Today, his training regimen would tax anyone but the most fit athlete. He practises six afternoons a week, for about two hours at a time. Two mornings a week, he adds as much as two more hours to his training, and all that doesn’t include daily one-hour physical fitness sessions in the gym.
It’s gruelling to say the least, though Kostava points out that top European players put in six hours a day, often leading to burn-out.
Volfson, he said, “doesn’t work crazy hard, but he works very smart,” focusing on technique while not wasting time.
His skill has also allowed him to see the world. Last summer at a competition in Yerevan, Armenia, he tangled with a young Israeli who beat him in singles, but who was also his doubles partner.
The Israelis were so impressed with Volfson that they invited him to train with them at their national tennis centre.
Travelling to Israel is something he’d dearly like to do. His grandparents, who were originally from Belarus, lived in Israel for a time, he said.
“I want to perform in the Maccabiah Games,” Volfson said. “And, I want to win it.”
With his credentials, he’s pretty much a shoo-in to make the Canadian team.
So what does he do when he’s not smacking a little green ball around. Is it resting perhaps?
This summer, he’ll be taking it easy, he said. There are only a few European tournaments on his schedule, and he’s got to prepare for his bar mitzvah in September. When he’s not working at tennis, “I like to play soccer, go to school, be with friends, read books and play video games,” he said.
Something restful perhaps, like FarmVille?
Not exactly. In fact, Volfson likes to unwind with sports and action video games.
Mature, hard-working and focused, to be sure. But he’s still a kid, after all.
