WEEK EIGHT RECAP FROM LAFAYETTE GARDENS

This past weekend at Lafayette Gardens students focused on preparing for the upcoming KCTL Davis Cup Tournament.

Our youngest and most beginner players drilled on basic forehand and backhand form. After hitting both backhands and forehands, they played a few ball and racquet related games.

Our intermediate and advanced students focused on doubles play and strategy. While playing we took time to practice our serving techniques. As we played, students called the game and kept track of their points. 

We began our off-court session by celebrating a teammate’s birthday with cupcakes. As we ate, students shared the information they had prepared about Argentina, the country we’ll be representing at the Davis Cup. One of our volunteers then explained how doubles is traditionally played. 

Once finished with the off-court portion, students and volunteers got on the court to play a game of breakout. As usual, we ended class huddled with one hand in a circle cheering, “LG!”

Update from Kings County Tennis League - July 2018

KCTL to Host Annual Fundraiser Thursday, September 13

Once again, we're holding our Annual Fundraiser on Thursday, September 13 at M1-5 Lounge in Lower Manhattan. If you purchase your tickets before August 17, they will be $55 a piece. After the 17th, they will increase to $65.

Click here to purchase tickets

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Annual Davis Cup Tournament to take place this Saturday, July 28

On Saturday, July 28, KCTL is hosting the annual Davis Cup Tennis Tournament! This will be a team-based, doubles tournament featuring all five KCTL sites: Marcy, Lafayette Gardens, Tompkins, Sumner, and Jackie Robinson.

WHAT: A team-based, doubles tournament featuring all five KCTL sites

WHERE: Marcy Playground (753 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn)

WHEN: Saturday, July 28 from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Following the event, KCTL is hosting a happy hour for volunteers to celebrate the conclusion of the tournament! Come to Brooklyn Tap House after the tournament to meet and socialize with your fellow volunteers!

If you are a volunteer, you can register for the social by clicking here.

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KCTL Has New Tee Shirts

KCTL has a new tee shirt design! See our store to grab one!

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KCTL Forms its First Family Committee

KCTL is excited to announce the formation of our first Family Committee! This committee meets monthly to plan engaging activities, help attract more volunteers from the community, and much, much more!

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GoGirlGo! is looking for Volunteers and Students

Throughout the summer, we will be enriching our female students with an all girls tennis and education class that will enable many girls to participate in tennis and life-skills lessons. Our goal is to increase female participation throughout our programming by engaging and empowering our female students. 

Our Pee Wee Tennis Program is looking for Volunteers

Our new Pee Wee Tennis Program is off to an excellent start! Formed through a partnership with Brooklyn Kindergarten Society, this new program offers four-year old BKS students at Sumner and Tompkins tennis classes midweek. The program lasts until November 1, 2018. If you are available to volunteer, please click the button below.

WEEK SEVEN RECAP FROM MARCY

Saturday, July 14, was great day at Marcy. The weather was perfect and the kids were excited to work on their game after last week's tournament at Highland Park!

Now that the Highland Park tournament was complete, the students started working towards the annual KCTL tournament, Davis Cup, on July 28. Amped for more tournament play, everyone was busy practicing competitive points and trying to build their all-around game. The younger students who use the red and orange balls played on the pop-up nets by the wall, utilizing games such as King of the court and breakout. The older kids were on the main court and worked both on their rallies and competitive points. Additionally, they played doubles points against each other and worked on basic doubles strategies such as covering your partner and attacking the net. 

After our tennis session was over, Gary, our education coordinator, led a lengthy discussion and helped us come to an agreement on our biggest debate to date, our Davis Cup Country. The Pick? Australia! 

WEEK FIVE RECAP FROM TOMPKINS

For class this week, the students focused on getting ready for competition, specifically the Highland Park tournament coming up on July 7. The students were broken up by skill level: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. For the first couple of weeks, the younger students were getting used to holding the racquet and performing simple drills focusing on hand-eye coordination. For the fifth week class, the students started to hit and develop their swing. The intermediate students were focusing on bounce serves and forehand and backhand form, while the advanced kids focused purely on serves and returns.

During the off-court portion, the advanced students volunteered to demonstrate a mock tennis match from start to finish. The advanced students showed how to start a match and end a match with good etiquette. The other students watched and discussed what they learned and how they would apply it to the competition at Highland Park next week.

WEEK FOUR RECAP FROM JACKIE ROBINSON

This week there was a tennis extravaganza like no other at Jackie Robinson Park. All of our tennis champions hit the courts and brought their family and friends along for Family Day! Everyone looks forward to Family Day each and every year for many reasons. One reason being that our students are so excited to share their love of tennis with friends and family. Another reason we love Family Day is that it gives King’s County Tennis League another great opportunity to strengthen the bond that we have with the families that makes our program so wonderful.

We rocked out with tons of fun games and activities, including a ball rolling race, a forehand volley challenge, and a fan favorite, “Breakout.” With students and parents alike, swinging low to high over their shoulder and running towards the net to hit a volley towards their team’s target, it was a fun-filled, action packed session. During the off-court portion of the class, the students were given the task of finding the measurements of the court and worked in team’s to get the job done. The Jackie Robinson Park tennis courts were filled with fun and learning on Saturday, just the way we like it.

WEEK THREE RECAP FROM SUMNER

This past Saturday, we had a full court of volunteers and three students: Jonathan (last 30 mins), Katelynn and Janelly. We warmed up with relay races and stretching followed by skills development. We focused on ball direction and hitting target areas of the court. We had volunteers stand in four corners of the court with each representing the letters B-A-L-L. If a player hits a ball near the volunteers, they get the letter. The object of the game is to spell BALL first. We did this with the carousel drill with forehands and backhands.

After the warm-up, the core skill we worked on was volleys. We played quick-volleys with three people on each side while rotating every three to four points. Volunteers and students played together and everyone had a lot of fun.

Then we drew two square boxes with chalk on the court and played rolling dodge ball. A student in the middle jumps over a ball that pairs across from each other roll. If the ball touches any part of the foot or ankle, the student is out and the person who rolled the ball goes into the middle to be the jumper. We all took turns playing and it was a good way to practice coordination and agility.

After practicing volleys and doing rolling dodge ball, we played champion of the court in pairs with students serving to start the point.

The session wrapped up with a group interview of Anna and Sahil. They asked insightful questions. Then students participated in a get to know each other exercise and completed Venn diagrams.

WEEK TWO RECAP FROM MARCY

Saturday, June 9th was a beautiful day for tennis. The students started their session with a quick warm-up which included high knees, butt kicks, lunges and sprints, which eased them into an exciting morning of drilling and games. 

The session was split into different age groups: the older kids at the full-sized court and the younger kids at the pop-up nets by the wall. 

Team Marcy worked on their forehands, backhands, serves and volleys, with games in each station. The groups rotated throughout the stations and played a different game at each. One game they played was called “Bonzai,” where two teams hit volleys and raced to get to 10 points (a point per volley). When either team hit a target, they yelled out “Bonzai” and their opponent’s score would reset to zero. The kids loved the game and so did our volunteers!

After the tennis portion was over, Gary, our Educational Coordinator, led a session where the kids got into groups of two and wrote down their similarities and interests in a venn diagram. 

Overall, it was a fantastic session and everyone had a blast!