Off-Court Talk: Listening (And More Charades!)

Our tennis players at Marcy had fun revisiting last week’s discussion topic—communication—this past Saturday. This time around, Gary led a conversation about a different part of communication: listening. He asked the students, “When we communicate with someone, what else do we do besides talk or express ourselves non-verbally?” After a few guesses, the kids correctly determined that listening is the other big component of communication.

We all talked about the reasons why being a good listener is important to communicating. Careful listening—not just hearing—helps us to comprehend others’ messages. Unless we understand what someone has communicated to us, we can’t respond to them or have a dialogue. Listening well is polite and respectful, too. It shows that we are interested in what someone else has to say. Finally, listening enables us to have balanced conversations with all participants contributing their ideas equally.

We ended the break with several rounds of charades, everyone’s new favorite game off the tennis courts. We played one big site-wide game that included some more challenging words and phrases. Working together as a team, the kids solved every charades performance from “Eating Spaghetti” to “Riding a Rollercoaster” to “Getting Caught in the Rain.”

Here are some pictures of the discussion and the game!

Week 5 Recap: Switching between Forehands & Backhands

From Marcy

Being that Marcy court is under renovation(!) we had to improvise and utilize what readily available space we had. We had 15 students and eight volunteers on Saturday. For this session the main areas of focus was of course the continuation of the forehand. And we added the proper technique and form for hitting the backhand. This session also included one footwork and one agility drill station, and for our younger students of the game, we had various relay races, which they loved!

From Tompkins

Tompkins class had a slow start as their was a block party happening around the corner. But eventually the kids showed up and we broke them into three sections by skill level -- advanced, intermediate and beginners. The advanced students worked on agility, footwork and improving their forehand and backhand techniques. The intermediate students hit a ton of forehands and backhands, with a special focus of keeping their feet moving. The younger kids played a few different games and worked on hand-eye coordination.

From Sumner

This week we continued practicing the forehand technique but the backhand technique was the primary focus. The student did relays, beat the pro and a fun game of pacman that everyone enjoyed. The off court discussion went over the topic of family and what their value systems are as well as their individual experiences had with family and friends.

Off-Court Talk: Non-Verbal Communication

With an exceptionally large student turnout at Marcy on Saturday, the off-court talks were especially fun and interactive. The topic of the week was Non-Verbal Communication, which we brought to life with charades. Of course, the game of charades restricts the “actor” or “actress” from using words, so this week’s talk had a bit less “talking” than usual!

We began with a brief discussion to inspire reflection on non-verbal communication. First we asked, “How do you communicate with others?” The students described speaking, talking, or using words. Then, we presented a challenge: “How would you communicate with someone if you were not able to speak?” They suggested sign language and facial expressions. We explained that these are two forms of non-verbal communication, and then told them about one more: acting. To illustrate the concept, we organized games of charades.

Without a boxed version of the game available, we generated original words and phrases and hand wrote them on index cards. Some mystery words/phrases proved trickier than others, but the kids worked hard to solve each performance. Likewise, as actors or actresses, the students were persistent and creative when their audiences were stumped.

“Blowing out candles on a birthday cake” was one particularly challenging phrase. After blowing out imaginary candles on an imaginary cake produced only wrong answers from her guessers, one student, Franchesca, added a bit more detail. She picked up an imaginary knife from her side, began cutting the imaginary cake and passed out imaginary slices to everyone sitting around her. It was only a matter of seconds before her actions registered and her fellow students guessed the phrase correctly.

And where’s the lesson in all of this? Communication isn’t limited to the words we use, and what we convey non-verbally can be even more powerful. Everyone had a blast playing KCTL’s version of charades. We’re sure the kids will be thrilled to revisit the concept with some additional games of charades later in the season!

Week 4 Recap: Backhands!

We had another great class across all four sites last Saturday, a particular victory given that it was the Memorial Day weekend and we had originally been worried about rain. Lots of kids and volunteers came out to Marcy, Tompkins and Lafayette Gardens. Sumner had lower attendance, but the upside is that each child got one-on-one attention with a volunteer!

Across all four sites, the kids played games and ran drills, and new players were introduced to the backhand. Here's a short video on how to hit a two-handed backhand:

Off-Court Talk: Manners & Etiquette

This past Saturday, we introduced off-court talks to the students at Marcy, where we focused on the subject of manners and etiquette. The discussions, which convened in a shaded corner of the blacktop courts with plenty of water bottles in reach, were a relaxing time-out from forehand drills and games. So, it wasn’t surprising that the kids arrived to the water break/discussion station ready to put their racquets aside, take a seat, and–most importantly--talk!

I got to join a few of the conversations and was pleased by how much some of the kids had to say about this week’s topic. Others had to be encouraged a bit, but every kid eventually felt comfortable and confident enough to share his or her individual perceptions. Our site coordinator, Gary, started the conversation, asking, “What do good manners mean to you?”

The kids at Marcy know that saying “please,” “thank you” and “excuse me” is critical, but they quickly acknowledged that actions speak louder than words--offering supporting examples. For instance, one student cited helping her little sister with homework as a courteous action. Another student offered that if a school classmate had taken her assigned desk without permission, she would remain calm, politely explain that the desk is hers, and forgive the classmate for the mistake.

We wrapped up the talks by connecting good manners and etiquette to tennis. Saying “Good game,” shaking hands, and complimenting an opponent on a skillful shot--instead of using profanity or throwing your racquet--are the best ways to speak and act while on the court.

Needless to say, our first week of off-court discussions at Marcy went well! We’re looking forward to picking up where we left off next week.

Week 3 Recap: Forehands and Forehands and Forehands

From Marcy Tennis Club

For this week's class, our site leader Maayan put in place five skills/drills stations, which our students rotated between... this enabled our students to work with all of the coaches/mentors throughout the class time. The stations included: Rallying, Footwork & Movement, Fundamentals, Feeding Balls and last but not least the off-court discussion regarding Manners and Etiquette.

From Tompkins Tennis Club

This week, we have made slow but meaningful progress with all of our age groups. Our youngest group worked on their forehand strokes, focusing on how to grip the racket, which can be difficult for the little ones. They also began hitting their first few forehands of the season, so it's only up hill from here! The middle age group ran through many forehands, making the goal of this past week to hit as many balls as possible, to reinforce proper form, and to have our students more comfortable with swinging their racket properly. The older kids focused mainly on footwork, and forehand movement drills. Together we are working on moving naturally around the court, and being ready and able to move those feet when we have to.

From Lafayette Gardens Tennis Club

This past weekend at Lafayette Gardens was a blast. I'm sure everyone was postively exhausted in the best way possible by the end of class. Focusing on forehands with such a wide range of levels, class was a nice mix of tennis rotations and an off-court discussions about safety and communication.

From Sumner Tennis Club

This week's class went great. The kids did basic stretches and continued practicing their forehand technique. The off-court discussion expanded last week's conversation on teamwork by focusing in on leadership within a team setting. The kids were all provided a list of four core leadership roles and asked to think about what type of leader they identify with. The kids appeared to have the best time with the Beat the Pro game that we played toward the end of class.

Season Opener & Week 2 Recap

Wow. This weekend will be our third class with the kids this season. Time is already flying. The program is off to a tremendous start, and it's only up-hill from here! We had a solid turnout for our first class at each of the sites: Marcy, Tompkins, Lafayette Gardens and Sumner Houses. And we were surprised and excited by the number of new, eager faces that came out at Tompkins and Sumner.

The first class was mostly registration and getting-to-know each other activities, like name games, relay races and some simple tennis games. At Tompkins, we mostly emphasized keeping the kids engaged and having fun. Across all four sites, all the kids took an interest in learning the sport of tennis, even those who had never played before!

The second week's class, we were lucky that the rain held off (mostly) and we had a beautiful day. At Sumner, we started with drills to work on forehand form. Midway through class we had an group discussion about teamwork, which we followed up with teamwork games. Just as the rain was starting we got in a good loud "One, two, three, SUMNER TENNIS CLUB!" Lucky Sumner, we had a great class at Tompkins, also full of forehand work, but the falling rain made us miss out on the end of class cheer! (One of my personal favorite parts of class.) It was great to see that all the kids--new and returning--picked up the forehand surprisingly quickly.

Site coordinator, Gary, talks about the first two weeks of class: "Today was our first class, and need I say that I was very excited....I finally getting the opportunity to put all that I learned during my training, to good use and to finally get to meet our students. Getting to know everyone with the name games we used was a blast, it helped me out that's for sure! The class then proceeded with an introduction the the game/sport of tennis. The students enjoyed the drills as well as the chance to put they learned to use with the various games we played.

"We played another few rounds of name games, which again, was a blessing for me lol. Class started out as usual with our stretching exercises to help limber up the students and to prepare them for today's drills and the activities planned for them. Our first warm up exercise/drill was a gamed called "Centipede". This activity worked on footwork & speed. We then followed up with the the Penny drill and Elbow to the target drill. We proceeded to play a few rounds of a game I like to call "Outfield," where all of our students get to practice what was taught to them... hitting a forehand and working on their footwork. We barely had enough time to get our Marcy Site "Shout Out" before Mother Nature open up and the clouds and rain started pouring down.

Site coordinator, Candice, talks about the season opener: "It's been an extremely exciting time at Lafayette Gardens. Each week the sun's been out and the kids are coming from every direction of the neighborhood, explaining with pride how they participated last year or the year before that. I'm really excited about the season given we've already had an overflow of kids showing up ready to play!"

I think it's safe to say that the volunteers also had a great time getting to meet the kids. We're all looking forward to seeing the kids grow, not only in tennis but the building of their character. See you next week!