Students from the Sportsmen's Tennis & Enrichment Center in Dorchester, Mass. had the experience of a lifetime last week in conjunction with the Laver Cup: the opportunity to take the court with star tennis players Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock. In town to represent Team World at TD Garden from Sept. 24-26, Kyrgios and Sock stopped by the club on Tuesday, Sept. 21 to not only hit with the kids on the court, but also to share life lessons with them about their experiences as professional tennis players.
Following the tennis clinic, the kids were treated to a dinner provided by Jersey Mike’s.
Click here to view photos from the event.
“The kids at Sportsmen’s had a blast with two of tennis’ young stars, Jack Sock and Nick Kyrgios. Their visit and message of empowerment taught these kids that with hard work and determination anything is possible,” said Dan Faber, Executive Director, USTA Foundation.
“NJTL programs like Sportsmen's play a crucial role in our Foundation's mission to bring tennis and education together to change lives.”
Sportsmen’s Tennis & Enrichment Center has leveraged tennis for the past 60 years to open doors of opportunity for youth in some of Boston’s most underserved communities. Sportsmen’s employs top-level, certified coaches who have competed or trained players at the highest levels of tennis. As one of the 20 largest organizations in the USTA Foundation’s National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network, Sportsmen’s provides top-tier tennis instruction, academic support and life skills programming for more than 5,000 youth annually. Their health and wellness programs target the most pressing chronic health issues facing families in Boston’s inner-city communities.
In addition to their youth programs, Sportsmen’s is the home club to roughly 300 adult members from all over Boston who rent courts, take lessons, compete on their traveling teams, and share their time and talents with their participating youth.
The Laver Cup, established in 2017, is an annual event that pits the six best players from Team Europe and Team World against each other for three days of innovative competition in a team format. In the days following the kids' clinic, Team Europe went on to win the title for the fourth time in four editions of the tournament.
Photos by Ben Solomon.