That was on display throughout the week at Hammond Park in Minot, as the North Carolina native Wilkison provided his expertise at the Road to the U.S. Open camp presented by the Marc S. White Tennis Academy.

The second-year camp being held Wednesday through Friday featured high schoolers in the morning session on Thursday. Different sessions have been held each day for varying ages and experience levels.

“It’s a really good tennis community here. I’m impressed,” Wilkison said. “The main reason for coming, last year, was to help the high school team. They’re a good team with all these championships that they have won, but we tried to get them to another level… So, we did a training camp last year (for them) and that’s what we are doing today. But, Marc (White) said, ‘Hey, these kids are going to graduate at some point. So, let’s do one for the younger ones.’ We did middle school yesterday and we are going to do fully young ones tomorrow like 10 (years old) and under.”

What makes the camp so unique is the experience Wilkison has and the knowledge White possess to offer a special lesson for all involved.

Alex Eisen/MDN A High school tennis player takes part in the Road to the U.S. Open camp on Thursday at Hammond Park.

Wilkison, also known as “Dr. Dirt” for his diving volleys at Wimbledon, won six single titles and 10 double titles in his career. He retired in 1993 and now has his own tennis academy in Charlotte, North Carolina.

White is Minot’s resident tennis pro and the director at the Cameron Indoor Tennis Center.

“We have coached together, traveled together for probably 25 years,” Wilkison said of White. “We are friends, so that’s how this got started.”

The theme for the week is “feel the difference.” A motto in learning about the right time to hit a certain shot.

“Young players like to bash the ball,” Wilkison said. “They can hit it hard, but they make a lot of mistakes. They don’t use the whole court. Sometimes, hitting the ball hard is the wrong shot. Some balls you should play soft or play with different spins. To work on those specialty shots and feel what you should be doing has been our goal.”

To push that message across, Wilkison relies on past tales and memories that have stuck with him over the years.

“I’ve played a lot of guys that are very famous and are either coaches now or television commentators,” he said. “I always try to use situations, not to say that I’ve played a certain player and I beat them or loss to them, but I try to use stories to help them.

“For example, we were just talking about a very big tournament that I happened to win. But, I won because the other guys got bothered by other things. One guy got a bad call and he fell apart and another guy was very nervous and he fell apart. I mean, those things happen, but you got to prepare yourself to be able to go forward and do the best you can.”

Coming to the end of the session on Thursday afternoon, Wilkison and White put their preaching into practice one more time as the students ran through a hitting and placement drill. On what was supposed to be the final swing of the session, the ball was whiffed on.

After some initial playful laughter and jeering, the group of 15 high schoolers lined up, went through the drill once more and ended on a positive note.

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.