Housing Project Junior Tennis

In December 2018, ProtoStar Foundation made a one-year $5,000 grant from the Matt Stevenson Junior Tennis Fund (“Fund”) to Kings County Tennis League (“KCTL”) to support the expansion of its unique Junior Tennis/Core Curriculum/Mentorship Program to Raymond V. Ingersoll Houses, a housing project in Brooklyn, New York.  KCTL’s mission is to “use tennis as an instrument to mentor underserved youth and strengthen communities in Brooklyn, New York.”  KCTL’s program is extraordinary in that rather than having the underserved youth come to a central facility, it brings the Junior Tennis/Core Curriculum/Mentorship Program to the inner city housing projects.

A.   Kings County Tennis League (“KCTL”)

KCTL was founded in 2010 by Michael McCasland “armed with not much more than a smile, some down-home Southern charm… and a bunch of hand-drawn fliers offering free tennis lessons – T-shirts, rackets and balls included.”[1]  Mr. McCasland had walked by Marcy Houses, an inner city housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and noticed “a faded, cracked tennis court with a piece of metal fencing in lieu of a net.”  The court was sitting empty and not being used by anyone in the housing project.  In response to his fliers for free tennis lessons, eight children from Marcy Houses showed up on the first Saturday.  From there, Mr. McCasland built the KCTL junior tennis program at Marcy Houses and further expanded it to include four other public housing projects in Brooklyn – Tompkins Houses, Lafayette Gardens, Sumner Houses, and Brevoot Houses.

B.   Raymond V. Ingersoll Houses

Raymond V. Ingersoll Houses is located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.  The complex was built in 1944 and consists of two large “superblocks” of 21 buildings.  There are 1,826 apartments and a freestanding community center to service approximately 4,000 residents living there.  According to a report issued by the New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”), the average gross income of the Ingersoll residents as of 2014 was $24,511.[2]  The average gross rent per unit was $470 a month.[3]  Approximately 216 families were on public assistance.[4]  Nearly 30% of the residents, or about 1,157 persons, were minors under 18.

In 2006, Ingersoll Houses had undergone major renovations, both within the apartments and in the common areas.  To help make further improvements, Ingersoll Houses was selected in 2014 to take part in “NextGeneration NYCHA,” a strategic planning initiative designed to create a long term vision for the participating communities.  Amongst the issues that were addressed included safety and security, community services, and relevant to this proposal, playground improvements.  The report found that the playgrounds at the Ingersoll Houses were old and did not meet existing safety standards.  One resident said:  “Children have been hurt in play areas because of poor conditions of equipment.”  The strategic initiative recommended that a plan be developed to improve the quality of the playground areas.  Notwithstanding the NYCHA’s 2014 recommendations, the government has apparently provided little or no funding to help meet these lofty goals and Ingersoll Houses continues to face extraordinary difficulties.

C.   KCTL’s Junior Tennis/Core Curriculum/Mentorship Program

KCTL uses the classic model of offering a sport or some other fun activity as a “hook” to interest potentially at-risk children and providing physical, mental, and emotional support to them.  KCTL has already successfully implemented its program at the five other housing projects listed above.  It thus has a good track record and is now proposing to expand its program to Ingersoll Houses.

KCTL’s program is offered free of charge to the children at the housing projects.  It consists of three components:  (1) Junior Tennis; (2) Core Curriculum; and (3) Mentorship.

Junior Tennis.  KCTL provides school-age children and youth with free after-school, summer, and winter tennis clinics.  The clinics are designed to teach students proper tennis technique and the basic strategies of match play, which in turn would help them with developing hand-eye coordination, muscle memory, and overall fitness.

Core Curriculum.  Students participating in the Junior Tennis clinics will be offered a Core Curriculum, an academic tutoring program that is modeled after the Academic Creative Engagement (“A.C.E.”) Curriculum championed by the USTA Foundation as part of its National Junior Tennis and Learning (“NJTL”) Network.  The NJTL Network provides low-cost tennis and educational programming through 350 youth development organizations.

Mentorship.  KCTL’s coaches and volunteers will provide mentoring to the students in the Junior Tennis and Core Curriculum programs.  Much has recently been written about the importance of mentoring to facilitate not only intellectual learning, but also emotional growth.  Unlike the old paradigm of “master and apprentice,” mentoring involves collaboration between the mentor and mentee.

D.   ProtoStar/Fund’s Mission

KCTL’s proposal falls within ProtoStar’s interests in:  (1) Children’s Athletics and Education; and (2) Social Justice.  Similar to the junior tennis program at Mountain View Sports & Racquet Club, KCTL’s program meets all of the funding criteria for the Matt Stevenson Junior Tennis Fund.  Unlike other junior tennis programs, KCTL brings tennis and education to the children in the housing projects.  This is unique.  It thus may serve as a prototype for not only other junior tennis programs, but also other sports and recreational activities.

[1] “Tennis Has Become a Presence in Brooklyn’s Housing Projects,” The New York Times (August 24, 2018).

[2] New York City Housing Authority, Next Generation NYCHA:  A Community Vision for Ingersoll Houses (2014).

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.