Press / Awards

Martha's Vineyard may be known for its celebrity residents and high-profile summer guests, but its free tennis program for the island's resident youngsters is also turning heads.

THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD TIMES
May 21st, 2009
"Vineyard Youth Tennis grows up"
Written by Whit Griswold

At 2:20 on an early spring afternoon, Vineyard Youth Tennis is empty, almost dormant. There is one car in the parking lot, four empty tennis courts, and an almost hollow clubhouse building. But two hours later the lot is half full and the place is buzzing - especially on the courts in "the bubble."

If you're an Islander under 18 years old and your parents know a great idea when it smacks them in the face, let alone the difference between a drop shot and a lob, chances are you've been part of that buzz at some point in the last seven years.

THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD TIMES
May 17th, 2007
"Gearing up for summer at Vineyard Youth Tennis"
Written by Karla Araujo

They run, jump, hurdle, throw, catch, sidestep, slice, chip, drive, volley, and smash their way through their one-hour lessons twice a week at Vineyard Youth Tennis. During the colder months, you can hear their shouts and screeches echoing outside the protective bubble that rises each autumn to shelter the hundreds of Island kids between 4 and 18 years old who now count free tennis as one of their weekly activities year-round.

"It's a great program," Adam Bresnick says, his voice enthusiastic. An avid tennis player himself, his three boys - Owen, 5, Sam, 7, and Zach, 9, are all growing up with rackets in their hands. Now that the kids are playing, he says, his wife has taken up the game as well.

"How lucky are we to have this facility?" Mr. Bresnick asks. "I'm seeing a lot of kids switching to tennis from other sports on the Island. It's now part of the mix of kids' sports and it's drawing kids who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford to learn."
Read the full article here.

THE VINEYARD GAZETTE
edition of Friday, June 23, 2006
"Tennis Program Offers Lessons with No Strings"
Written 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.

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....