Week 8: Rally, Rally, Rally

From Marcy

Since Thursday was the last day of school for our students, we started our discussion by asking the question... How does everyone feel now that the school year was over. Everyone answered, Happy! We asked them to think back to the first day of school and all that happen since that first day, how would they say the school year turn out for them, and most answered that the year was good. For tennis, we had the kids go through the five stations (four tennis drills and one discussion station).
 

From Tompkins

During this week's class, the children did mostly rallying, rotating between four different stations focusing on forehand serving. The focus of the off-court discussion was mainly on peer pressure, and there was a brief introduction of site coordinator, Charisse and her role at Tompkins, to build trust and rapport with the kids.
 

From Sumner

For the second week in a row, Sumner students practiced rallying by playing King of the Court. We also briefly introduced the kids to volleying and played a few Sumner favorites: Pac-Man, Jailbreak, and Frogger. In the group off-court discussion, we talked about peer pressure.

Off-Court Talk: Community

Over the weekend at Marcy, our off-court discussion borrowed the central theme from the day’s earlier ribbon cutting ceremony: community.

The ceremony unveiled our newly restored, beautifully painted blue tennis court—but our celebration didn’t stop there. Together with students, parents and volunteers from all four KCTL sites, along with local leadership figures, we also celebrated something more meaningful than a tennis court--our community. Speakers at the ceremony praised KCTL’s impact on the community, and expressed confidence that the new court will intensify this positive influence.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and 36th District Council Member Robert Cornegy applauded our program’s creation of a new community. KCTL is a fusion of children, parents and adult volunteers in safe and fun learning environments, they said.

KCTL president and founder, Michael McCasland emphasized that the new facility welcomes an entire community. Although it’s located at the Marcy Playground, closest to the Marcy Houses, the renovated space is open to all KCTL students, including those who reside in Tompkins, Sumner and Lafayette Gardens.

Brandon, a 15-year-old KCTL student who has been with the program since it began in 2010, enthusiastically told the audience that KCTL has created a new community for him, a “second family.”

After the ceremony, we talked about community in our off-court discussion to round everything out. Appropriately, some of our neighbors in the community sat alongside us, since we’d invited students and volunteers from Tompkins to join our site for the day.

In our conversation, we explained that communities are best defined by where you live. We pointed out how earlier that day, we had united four communities to join as one. With this understanding, the kids told us about the importance of taking care of your community and its resources. If someone’s damaging community property—say, with graffiti or breaking glass—you should ask them to stop or alert someone who can help.

The students learned that any community is strongest when its members interact in cooperation in pursuit of common good—just like the community we’d come together to celebrate earlier in the day.

Press Release: KCTL Re-Opens Marcy Playground Tennis Courts After Completing Full Renovation

Councilmember Robert Cornegy and Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey help cut ribbon to new court to kick off 2014 tennis program

BROOKLYN, June 21, 2014 – The Kings County Tennis League (KCTL), a non-profit mentorship program that builds community through tennis, today unveiled the newly renovated tennis court at Marcy Playground, next to the Marcy Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. KCTL set out last fall to repair the cracked and aging court, where the mentorship program began in 2010.

“We bring tennis to the children, and that includes proper courts in a good playing condition,” said Michael McCasland, president and founder, KCTL. “We launched our program at Marcy Playground, so this was highly personal. This was about giving our youth members and mentor volunteers the best tennis experience, including a great court. In fact, our 2014 season is off with a heightened sense of enthusiasm.”

KCTL began fundraising in October to cover the costs of the renovation. This included beautification with new plants and shrubs around the tennis court.

“The Kings County Tennis League has become a notable part of our community, engaging our youth and matching them with mentors through tennis. Renovating the Marcy Playground tennis court shows this organization's deep commitment to Bed-Stuy. I join the community in expressing gratitude and excitement for this excellent example of civic commitment,” said Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr., who helped cut the ribbon to open the new court.

“As an agency charged with maintaining over 4500 acres of recreational parkland in the borough of Brooklyn alone, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation is extremely grateful for the work that the Kings County Tennis League has put into this renovation,” said Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey. “We take great pride in being able to provide our residents with the best recreational opportunities available.”

About KCTL
With the mission of bringing tennis to the kids of Brooklyn, KCTL offers free, two-hour tennis lessons with mentors on Saturdays from May through October for children, ages 5-15, who live in low-income, housing projects. Formed in 2010 as the Marcy Tennis Club, we’ve since expanded to four different housing locations (Marcy, Tompkins, Lafayette Gardens and Sumner Houses) and now serve more than 120 youth athletes. KCTL, and our roster of over 50 dedicated volunteers, firmly believe that tennis is an effective means to provide mentorship and build community.

For more information, contact:
Michael McCasland, KCTL Founder and President
michael@kingscountytennisleague.org
(202) 359-9534

Off-Court Talk: Friendship

During our off-court discussions at Marcy last weekend, we talked about Friendship, a topic that perfectly complimented our first class dedicated to rallying.

Our chat about Friendship was actually inspired by the previous class’ talk about Values. Noticing that the students gave little prioritization to friendship in the Values Ranking exercise, we decided to lead an entire discussion about the people we call our friends. We got the kids talking about what makes someone a friend. They identified two important features of friendship: having common interests and being able to trust one another.

We also helped the students to distinguish between their friends and best friends. The kids overturned the idea that a best friend is someone who is simply physically close to you all the time. One student, Brenda, proved this by explaining that her best friend goes to a different school than her. Although they’re not by each other’s side everyday, their frequent communication keeps their friendship afloat.

So, what does this have to do with rallying? Until Saturday, our lessons had kept the game of tennis entirely “one-way”: focused on hitting forehands and backhands over the net or at a target, never returned by a fellow student to initiate back-and-forth play. Our groundstrokes drills—with balls fed directly to students to improve their form—explored tennis only from the standpoint of the individual player, without considering what the game really is: hitting with another person or people, sustaining a rally.

Rallying is easily likened to friendship. Like maintaining an exciting rally, keeping a good friendship requires effort and responsiveness on both sides. A life with strong friendships is definitely more meaningful and than one without them, all alone—just like tennis is much more fun with someone else on the other side of the net, playing against you!

Week 7: Intro to Rallying

At Marcy site: Today was the first time we were able to use our court due to extensive renovations that had the court closed off for the last two weeks... What a great job that was done on the renovation of the court. It looks (and feels) amazing!

Introduction to Rally was the topic for today's lesson. As par for the course, we again had four stations setup. On the main court, we had the students trying to hit 8-10 consecutive shots back and forth. The 2nd station was the Basic Rally station, where we increased the number of consecutive shots to 15-20. (We did take into account the students skill level and adjusted the number of hits accordingly.) The 3rd station was Beat the Pro, where our students played against the coach/mentor of that station, trying to make as many consecutive shots/hits as possible. The 4th Station was our Footwork/Agility station where our students worked on various footwork drills.

This upcoming Saturday, June 21, is the official Ribbon Cutting/Opening of the KCTL, Marcy Playground Tennis Court! The ceremony begins at 12:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

Off Court Talk: Values

On Saturday at Marcy, our off-court talk topic was Values, which we explored in between groundstroke drills and our usual end-of-class game, breakout. This time, we invited the entire site to talk together, rather than in small discussion groups of four to five kids.

After making sure that everyone understood what we meant by values, we explained that these ideals usually originate within one’s family: While we all have our own personal values, they probably overlap with what our families consider most important.

We distributed copies of a worksheet titled “Rank Your Values” to make the conversation less abstract. The sheet contained a list of 21 common values relevant to kids of all ages: Getting Good Grades; Being Artistic or Creative; Helping Others; Being Healthy; Getting a Job I Really Like; Making Money; Being Accepted by My Friends.

We challenged the students to select and share their top 10 personal values from the list. Leading the discussion, Marcy’s site coordinator, Gary, reminded everyone that there were no right or wrong answers—only you can determine what you personally value! He called on several kids to reveal their value rankings to the group. While most of the kids included similar sets of values in their top 10, they all ordered them slightly differently, reinforcing that we all prioritize values uniquely as individuals.

Below, check out a photo of some of the Marcy students reviewing their Values worksheets while cooling off in the shade!

Media Alert: KCTL to Cut Ribbon on Newly Renovated Tennis Court

Kings County Tennis League to Cut Ribbon on Newly Renovated Marcy Playground Tennis Court
Councilmember Robert Cornegy to join re-opening of popular Bed-Stuy tennis court

BROOKLYN – The Kings County Tennis League (KCTL), a non-profit mentorship program that builds community through tennis, will re-open the Marcy Playground tennis court after an extensive renovation and beautification project. Councilmember Robert Cornegy will join KCTL, youth athletes and volunteers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

WHAT: Ribbon-Cutting Re-Opening Ceremony for Marcy Playground Tennis Court. Press conference including Q&A.

WHO: KCTL board members, mentor volunteers, community leaders, including Councilmember Robert Cornegy, youth athletes and their families.

WHEN: Saturday, June 21, 2014
12:00 pm - Reception
12:15 pm - Comments by KCTL board, Councilmember Cornegy, youth athletes
12:30 pm - Ribbon Cutting
12:35 pm - Q&A

WHERE: Marcy Playground Tennis Court
735 Myrtle Avenue
Brooklyn, NY

About KCTL
With the mission of bringing tennis to the kids of Brooklyn, KCTL offers free, two-hour tennis lessons with mentors on Saturdays from May through October for children, ages five to 15, who live in low-income, public housing projects. Formed in 2010 as the Marcy Tennis Club, we’ve since expanded to four different housing locations (Marcy, Tompkins, Lafayette Gardens and Sumner Houses) and now serve more than 120 youths. KCTL, and our roster of over 45 dedicated volunteers, firmly believe that tennis is an effective means to provide mentorship and build community. To join, volunteer, donate or get more information, go to http://www.kingscountytennisleague.org.

For more information, contact:
Michael McCasland, KCTL Founder and President
michael@kingscountytennisleague.org, 202-359-9534