We’ve had another great year of tennis with the aid of Point Set Tennis Club in Oceanside, NY (who, without reservation, donated court time and provided excellent Pros), and the Eastern Adult Tennis Foundation (who, once again, generously provided grant monies to fund this tennis program). This year 24 individuals signed up for and had a chance to play tennis, with 12-16 individuals playing each week from September through June. With the help of Tennis Pro, Brett Nisenson, each individual had an opportunity to work on increasing his/her skills in the following areas: Racquet handling, stroke formation, footwork and movement skills, ball tracking, point production and keeping score. Brett enthusiastically greeted the players each week and moved them through multiple warm-up drills and skill enhancement drills, all the while keeping their interests peaked and enthusiasm high. Brett stated they had definitely improved all around this year but, in particular, had increased their ability to more consistently strike the ball, had better focus and movement to the ball, could sustain points longer, and had great team camaraderie. He also noted that they improved a lot in calling their own balls in or out and in keeping their own scores.

If you ask any of our individuals, I think that you will get a sense that they really enjoy the game of tennis. They look forward to going to their weekly tennis sessions and learning these new skills and they love interacting with their peers within the tennis environment. Moreover, the skills that they are learning in the tennis program carry over into other areas of their lives, such as sustained focusing, following multi-step directions, player and team interactions, overcoming challenges and feeling good about oneself.