May, What a month for tennis!!
May is National Tennis Month and it is the perfect opportunity to try something new or continue your journey if you already play! Our goal at Above the Net was to introduce as many people to the sport as possible this month! And fortunately we were successful!
We had four separate community events. Three were Free Saturday Morning Clinics at our local park. We promoted the clinics via social media including our Facebook Group and Page and NextDoor as well as our website and email lists. We used 6 different courts at the park and divided the kids by age across 8 coaches that were a combination of long time tennis players and high school tennis players. We had kids as young as 4 and as old as high schoolers. We provided all of the equipment, snacks, drinks, goodie bags, and prizes. We started each Saturday with group warmups which included a combination of preplanned activities and ended the warm up with Tennis Terminology (e.g., parts of the court, parts of the racket, basic strokes) before dividing kids among their preassigned coaches for specific learning drills and activities.
At the end of the first clinic we did an expo in which our high school tennis players hit with each other while the kids watched....to demonstrate the potential if they stick with it. For our last Saturday clinic we made it multi-generational...still all beginners. We kept the same format, but put all of the adults in one class.
The fourth event that we did was at the Shaquille O'Neal Boys & Girls club in which we had a table at their Summer Program Open House. We presented our Above the Net Tennis program and answered questions of the parents. We had 43 parents sign up their children for our upcoming summer clinics at the Club.
All in all, we had a fabulous National Tennis Month and helped spread the word about the value of tennis for community building, development of life skills, and the potential for college scholarships...which is our mission at Above the Net. We hope that many of the new players to whom we introduced this sport, will continue the journey!
Sign up today for our upcoming Apprentice programs for beginners. Only $60 for 4 Saturday clinics. All equipment provided! Www.abovethenettennis.org/events