Photo of kids waiting to play tennis by Kim Watkins.
This article is no Djokovic: a few dozen children who had been told they could learn to play tennis for free at Brandeis High School on 84th street on Friday were turned away because of a problem with the permit.
The taxpayer-funded tennis program, sponsored by Councilmember Helen Rosenthal and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, offers kids 5-18 free tennis training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2 to 5 p.m. It also gives them rackets if they don’t have one, according to a notice sent out by Rosenthal that we posted on West Side Rag. There is no need to register in advance: just show up on the day you want to go and play.
About 30 to 40 kids had shown up on Friday and waited outside the gates, said Kim Watkins, who had brought her daughter to play. Eventually, they were told they had to leave after a custodian at the school said the tennis program’s didn’t have the right permit to play, Watkins said. There was “a miscommunication at the school,” according to Rosenthal’s office.
Scott Daly, director of community programs for the New York Junior Tennis League, which runs the program, told us the school had previously said the permits would be approved for Friday — he even forwarded the text of the email he got from them. He said he hopes everything will be fixed by Monday, but wasn’t 100% sure. He said parents can call his cell if they want to double-check (Write to us at westsiderag@gmail if you want his cell number.) Watkins said the kids who showed up Friday weren’t told either way if it would be fixed on Monday.
Rosenthal’s office assured us everything will be fixed and the camp will resume Monday at 2 p.m. Good luck to all the future Serenas and Andys out there!
Sounds wonderful but the reality will be that even if its a go, there will long waiting lines and lots of sitting around.
Very disappointing. I didn’t want to say anything when this story was first posted but I’ve had my own share of bad experiences with ‘free-just show up,’ summer programs (tennis,swimming,skating). Kids wait for hours, there’s never enough equipment, the instructors don’t always show up, and there are too many kids per instructor and not enough quality learning time. Sometimes you just have to spring for a few private lessons, but I realize not everyone can do that, so I’m hoping for the best for these kids (and parents) next Monday.