ANGELA Kelly visits a Bolton club where the stars of tomorrow are learning the game.

SOME of them are not even the height of the net. Yet they strike the tennis ball with an accuracy adults envy.

These are the super-kids -- tomorrow's hopefuls who just may, one day, exchange the informal courts of a leafy Bolton suburb for the world stage of another, more famous London suburb.

Certainly, 10-year-old Jonathan Shacklady has no doubts he's getting to Wimbledon one day, possibly to succeed his hero, Australian star Lleyton Hewitt.

But then, the Lostock County Primary School pupil is already one of the top rated players for his age in the county.

Bolton School girl Emily Egan-Morriss, aged nine, is also hoping for such glories, as is her club companion, Olivia Brown.

When Olivia was nine last year, she won her way through to a memorable day at Wimbledon. She beat local, regional and national players in the annual Robinson's tournament to meet -- and impress -- her idol, Tim Henman.

Olivia, Emily and Jonathan are part of a remarkable coterie of children at Markland Hill tennis club in Heaton. They already play for Lancashire and are viewed as the future of the sport.

The youngsters are coached by Tony Green, who hones the talents of more than 100 children aged from four to 15 at the club in Victoria Road.

"Early on, I look for good movement and discipline," he said. "I can work with temperament, but I'm not having any child throwing a racquet on the floor. And they must be prepared to work hard if they really want to improve."

Tony learned to play tennis in the local parks of Leigh at four pence a time, but says he never really played the game seriously until he was an adult. He became a coach 12 years ago, and for the past four years has been at Markland Hill.

Tony also coaches at the South Ribble tennis academy, where some of the county's finest young talent attend each week for specialised coaching.

He is a strong believer that, in tennis, you get back what you put in.

"Take a youngster like Olivia, for example," he tells me, as we watch the dainty child fire a forehand down the line at dad Peter. "Her shots have been produced by coaching and hard work."

It has already paid off for Olivia. She has just come fifth in the national clay court championships in

Hertfordshire, beating girls ranked higher nationally.

And there has to be the same kind of commitment from parents. Both Peter and wife Clare Brown regularly play tennis with Olivia and take her around the country to tournaments.

Similarly, Elaine Egan-Morriss and her husband, Richard, work full-time and have another child, Christopher, aged six, but they still manage to sort out around 10 hours of coaching for Emily each week, and take her to county matches and tournaments around the country.

"It is difficult fitting everything in," admits Elaine, "and it's expensive. Someone worked out that it costs around £7,000 a year when you take coaching, court fees, travel and hotels into account."

The Egan-Morriss family are now treading the path already taken by Phil and Carol Shacklady. Their son, Jonathan, started playing when he was five years old -- a natural progression in a sporting family.

Sister Sarah, now 14, is a keen player, Phil, a businessman, is a well known county veteran and Carol, who teaches physiotherapy, also regularly turns out for the Markland Hill tennis teams.

"We have always tried not to build our lives around Jonathan's matches," states Phil, "but, yes, it does require a real commitment from us."

Like many parents, they regularly take their son to tournaments in areas as far away as Scotland and Torquay -- with considerable success.

They recognise that this necessarily involves a huge input of both time and cash on their part.

"We are determined not to put him under any pressure," adds Phil. "Jonathan plays because he wants to. We certainly could not make him." This is the same ethos all the way through a family club like Markland Hill. And it seems to have worked.

The club also has three young stars -- eight-year-old Matthew Allanson and Alexia Thomasson, aged seven -- who are current county under-eights champions. Bethany Coton, also seven, was runner-up.

So could England produce a future Wimbledon champion? Tony Green is pragmatic.

"You never know," he insists. "The important thing is that they are enjoying themselves playing their sport. Nothing compares with that."

COST OF START-UP EQUIPMENT

(all from JJB Sports, for average 7 to 8-year-old)

Top -- Nike polo shirt ...£12.99

Shorts -- Nike plain blue shorts ...£9.99

Trainers -- Lacoste, plain white ...£39.99

Socks -- white, Nike ...£5

Top -- hooded, Reebok ...£15

Tennis balls -- pack of three ...£1.99

Racquet -- Olympus Junior 21-inch frame ...£11.99

TOTAL ...£96.95