By Beth Morrissey
Holding his borrowed tennis racket high above his head, 10-year-old Carlos Morales runs toward the chain link fence that serves as a tennis net. He swings at the incoming ball, and misses. The ball bounces on the concrete behind him. The game is a nail-biter, tied up after multiple volleys. Finally Morales and his doubles partner eek out the win. But both teams get the same reward: a round of applause from their tennis instructor John Williams.
In the wake of the US Open, Americans are used to seeing tennis played on posh courts, where winners are rewarded with fame, glory, and lucrative endorsement deals. But not every tennis organization has such an elite façade. A subway ride away from the pristine courts in Flushing Meadows enthusiastic matches are played on the uneven asphalt surfaces of the Marcy Playground, in Bedford-Stuyvesant. This is the Marcy Tennis Club, where these mostly black and Hispanic kids are getting into tennis for the first time.
“It has always bothered me that people think that this is an elite sport,” said Michael McCasland, who founded the club earlier this year. Every Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. the club holds tennis clinics on the court in front of the Marcy Houses, 27 six-story buildings that were built by the New York City Housing authority in 1945. The clinics are free, and taught by volunteer instructors.
According to Kurt Kamperman, chief executive of community tennis at the United States Tennis Association (USTA), the stereotype that tennis is a country club-only sport is outdated. “It is not accurate at all, and hasn’t been in a while,” said Kamperman in a phone interview.
On the pro circuit though, there are only a handful of Black tennis players. Venus and Serena Williams, who learned the game on the courts of Compton, California are two of the exceptions.
According to Kamperman, the USTA has devoted 45 million dollars of the proceeds from the US Open to encourage the growth of the sport in local communities. The USTA donated two mobile tennis nets to the Marcy Tennis Club.
“We want more people playing tennis,” he said. “We want tennis to look like America.” According to the USTA website, there are over 1,000 community tennis organizations in the United States registered with the USTA.
McCasland started the club by passing out fliers at local churches. He held the first clinic in May. But no one showed up. McCasland passed out flyers again, and talked to kids he met in stores, and encourage them to come to the clinics. He got the first batch of eager learners at the next clinic.
The instructors give lesson on Macy Playground’s one tennis court, then use four mobile nets to convert the adjacent handball courts into temporary tennis courts. On a recent Saturday, seven volunteer instructors worked with more than a dozen kids throughout the afternoon.
After his doubles match, Morales sits on the sidelines guzzling a 32 ounce Powerade. He says one of the instructors asked him to sit out of practice for misbehaving. “Horrible,” comments Morales when asked how he feels about the incident.
McCasland emphasizes that the volunteer instructors should be mentors first, and tennis coaches second. The volunteers take time out of practice to discuss concepts like sportsmanship.
“You have to treat them nicely,” said Morales of his opponents. “You can’t trash talk them like you usually do.”
At the end of practice a sportsmanship award, a backpack, is given to 13 year-old Emily Antequera. “You gotta be like nice to your teammates, and help them improve,” said Antequera, who notes that if she were not playing tennis this summer, she would be playing video games.
McCasland hopes to integrate the Marcy Tennis Club into Bedford-Stuyvesant schools, particularly those attended by children already participating in the program. “We don’t want to lose the kids we already have impact on,” said McCasland who used to live in Bedford-Stuyvesant but now resides in Manhattan.
McCasland hosted a fundraiser for the tennis club in a Manhattan bar on Aug. 20. The tennis club is also competing for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project. If the club is awarded the grant, it will use the funds to purchase athletic apparel, trophies, and other equipment to encourage children to keep participating in the club.
“That’s our idea. Bring tennis to the kids,” McCasland said. He plans to move back to Bedford-Stuyvesant in October so that he can be closer to the program.
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