Tennis Program Offers Lessons with No Strings

By MAX HART

In 2002 when he first walked onto the court at the Vineyard Youth
Tennis center, four-year-old Connor Downing was barely big enough to see
over the net, let alone hold a racquet.

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And like many of the dozens of aspiring Andre Agassis and Serena
Williamses who shuffled onto the center's clay courts that year,
when it came to the proper way of moving his feet, the right way of
angling his racquet and the best approach to hitting the fuzzy yellow
ball bouncing toward him, Connor was at a loss: they were not easy
concepts to grasp for someone whose racquet was almost as big as he was.

Last weekend, the bigger yet still pint-sized player from Edgartown
stepped onto an indoor court in Wayland in his tennis whites and tossed
a serve into the air. Across the net from him waited Sam Lapidus, the
169th ranked junior tennis player in New England. Connor swung his
racquet high over his head, struck the ball and watched as it sailed
over the net.

While the suspense was eliminated early in the contest (Lapidus won
easily), Connor's participation in that match - part of a
United States Tennis Association-sponsored, under-12 junior tennis
tournament - was a benchmark moment for this Island program that
five years ago was struggling to secure a foothold in the Island
community. It was proof that not only has the Vineyard Youth Tennis
program grown since its first year when about 70 kids signed up, it has
also begun to produce talented players who can compete on a regional
level.

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In other words, the program is beginning to realize both of the core
elements of its mission.

"Our primary goal here is to put a racquet in the hands of
every kid on the Island, but I think the secondary goal, the ultimate
goal, is to produce competitive players who can enjoy this game their
whole lives," Frederic (Fritz) Buehning, the Vineyard Youth Tennis
director, said on a recent afternoon. "We would love to have a
graduate of this program some day be able to realize a college
scholarship in tennis. I think that would really be a testament to level
of quality the center provides."

While Connor may be the emerging face of the Vineyard Youth Tennis
program, he is by no means alone. On any given afternoon you can find
his buddy, 11-year-old Kent Leonard, smashing forehands just inside the
baseline on court one. Kent also traveled to last week's
tournament, and while only four kids participated in the round robin
event, he came in second place behind Lapidus. Ten-year-old Julia
Cooper, who like Connor is a four-year veteran of the center, is always
on the courts as well, as are Brian Montambault, Jackson Koorse, Austin
Stevenson and Samantha Potter - all Island kids who have found a
love of tennis at the Oak Bluffs facility.

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"She picked up a racquet at 18 months old and has not put it
down since," said Carla Cooper, Julia's mother. "She
is more of an individual competitor as opposed to a team competitor and
this really challenges her individually. This game, this environment, is
perfect for her. It has helped give her confidence not just in her
tennis game but in everything she does."

Connor's mom, Karen, agrees.

"He just loves to play, and he loves the competition. He wants
to win, but he has learned that it is okay to lose, too."

Connor and Julia are just two of a swelling number of kids taking
advantage of the center. The unique program offers free, year-round
tennis instruction to every child aged three to 18 at a state-of-the-art
tennis complex. More than 215 kids already have signed up for sessions
in July, prompting Mr. Buehning to reconfigure the schedule and extend
the center's hours of operation, which will run this summer from
nine in the morning through dinner time.

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"This is an incredible situation for Island kids, one that you
just cannot find anywhere else," Mr. Buehning said. "The
belief here is that it shouldn't be available only to those who
can afford expensive lessons. The facility here really is one of a
kind."

Founded in 1997, the program was first offered to students in gyms
and courts around the Island. It became more firmly established once the
program moved into its Barnes Road location five years later. The
facility features four, high-quality clay courts - two of which
are encased in an inflatable dome for the winter months - and
state-of-the-art training equipment - all through the generosity
of an anonymous donor who not only agreed to pay for its annual
operating costs in perpetuity but also footed the bill for the land and
the facility's construction. This year, the center will even
provide racquets, shirts, shorts and skirts for kids who do not have
them.

The 2000-square-foot building has a large screen television where
the kids can watch professional tennis matches; each court has its own
Web cam that allows parents and other students to watch lessons live
from any computer. The center also frequently records sessions on video
and burns them to DVD so players can visually chart their progress.

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Yet even with the advanced technology, the quality of instruction
has always been the top priority for the board of directors. The
program's first director, Grace Bochicchio, was a former
professional tennis player, as is Mr. Buehning, who once beat John
McEnroe and was ranked as high as 21st in the world. Guillermo Varela,
who has been the head tennis instructor for the past two years, has
coached some of the best players in the world, including fellow
Argentinian Gaston Gaudio, who is currently ranked 11th in the world.

"The tools are all there to become really good tennis
players," said Mr. Buehning, who was hired last month as the
interim director to replace Gordie Ernst, who left in May after three
years. "Whether they step up and become those types of players is
up to how much they dedicate themselves."

Dedication is taken seriously, too. While the center teaches
students as young as three, all enrolled students are expected to follow
the rules and regulations, including wearing traditional tennis whites
and adhering to strict behavior and attendance codes.

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"This is a real privilege for the kids, and we do take this
very seriously," Mr. Buehning said. "But it's not like
we are one of those high-priced tennis academies. This is even better
because it is more personal. Here, more kids will get the extra help and
assessments they need to be better players."

To that, Mr. Varela added: "The kids build their own
self-esteem by learning this game. You can see it in what they do on the
court, and what they do off the court, too."

For Mrs. Downing, that may be the most important skill Connor has
learned.

"This has become his second home," she said. "He
just loves coming here."