Practicing Tennis at Home
Children across the city are adapting to a new normal brought about by COVID-19: online learning, closed playgrounds, and being indoors a lot more. Kings County Tennis League (KCTL), a non-profit that provides tennis and youth development to children living in and around NYCHA developments in Brooklyn, has been trying to provide its students with a sense of continuity and normalcy through virtual tennis sessions at home, as well as by making sure students’ families have the food and other resources they need during the pandemic.
KCTL serves youth at Lafayette Gardens and Marcy, Tompkins, Sumner, Brevoort, and Ingersoll Houses, providing them with access to tennis by renovating or creating courts as well as education about the sport.
After having to pause their on-site programming due to COVID-19 closures, KCTL surveyed the families they serve to see what they needed. From those conversations, the organization launched KCTL Cares, a campaign to raise money to help its community off the court. Through the campaign, they were able to provide groceries, gift cards, and more to KCTL families. The ongoing campaign is led by KCTL’s Development Director Vanessa Bornholdt.
“We drove around Brooklyn and personally delivered to them, getting everybody everything they needed,” KCTL Program Manager Rob Gerstman said.
Dave Webley, Executive Director of KCTL, delivering groceries to families in Brooklyn. 
A thankful KCTL family received groceries and tennis equipment.
Next, the team researched how to take their sessions online, testing numerous video conferencing platforms, making sure staff was trained, and ensuring students had equipment to practice at home. KCTL provided students with tennis rackets, balls, yoga mats, KCTL t-shirts, water bottles, and wrist bands. Online classes began in late April on Zoom, and a majority of students already had access to technology to participate in online classes or had received iPads from the NYC Department of Education.
KCTL currently has 30 students in its Upswing program, 106 students in its Saturday sessions, and 22 students in its Go Girl Go program.
One of those students is Cheyenne Jean, 12, who has been taking classes with KCTL for five years. She participates in the virtual Saturday program from the living room of her family’s Brevoort Houses apartment. Her younger sister is also a current student and her older brother is a former KCTL student.
“I like doing classes inside because I get to see people from the other teams, even though they’re competition,” Cheyenne said. “It’s fun because there’s different activities that we do and we’re trying new things we usually don’t do at our regular tennis times.” She also said she would continue tennis for as long as it’s offered indoors because it’s fun, keeps her occupied, and otherwise she’d be bored in her apartment.
On Saturday mornings, Cheyenne and the other kids in her age group begin with a warm-up of high knees, jumping jacks, and different types of dynamic stretches. After the warm-up, the students are led by site leaders in tennis activities such as footwork drills and tennis swings. Mr. Gerstman said footwork is easy to do at home because it doesn’t require a lot of space, but mentioned that they adapted the way students practice swings since kids can’t hit balls with rackets in their apartments.
During the second half of the session, students discuss the theme of the week. “We teach them a growth mindset; for instance, if they’re saying, ‘I’m not good at this, I can’t do this,’ we teach them to add the word ‘yet’ to those statements, such as, ‘I’m not good at this yet, I can’t do this yet’,” Mr. Gerstman said.
Of the off-court discussions, Cheyenne said: “I’m usually a sore loser after years of tennis and being frustrated. I learned that I’m not supposed to be the best person but keep trying and not get upset about every little thing.”
KCTL is currently planning for its summer programming, surveying families and investigating different scenarios depending on whether or not outdoor programming will be allowed. “From the get-go with our community, our families, and our students, we want to deliver programming to them no matter what shape or form it’s in that allows them to have fun, learn, and continue to build relationships with their KCTL family,” Mr. Gerstman said.
To learn more about KCTL, visit https://www.kingscountytennisleague.org/.