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Tennis Farm hosts youth camp at Hill |
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On Monday, July 19, a Pottstown community summer youth tennis camp program began its second year at The Hill School. A group of 57 third, fourth, and fifth graders from the Pottstown District are participating in a free four-week tennis camp at The Hill. Students were selected by the tennis program directors based on good academic performance and gym participation in school throughout the 2009-10 academic year.
The camp runs from 1 -4 p.m.each day, ending Friday, August 13. The program is organized by the Tennis Farm, a Berwyn, Pa. nonprofit 501 (c) (3) sports education organization that works to share the sport of tennis with youths.
In keeping with the Tennis Farm’s motto, “Kids ON court—not IN court,” the nonprofit seeks to sponsor deserving, motivated students from at risk or lower socio-economic backgrounds. The camp has been made possible in part by a grant from the Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation; the grant helps provide a skilled staff including many of the district’s own physical education teachers who bring the camp experience, extensive knowledge, and their passion for implementing health programs.
The Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation and the Tennis Farm’s shared goal “is to provide a constructive, healthy activity, and to help combat the ongoing childhood obesity issues faced in our country,” said Tom Ringe, founder of the Tennis Farm. Furthermore, Ringe hopes the Pottstown campers will embrace tennis as a “lifetime sport” and enjoy the activity for years to come. To ensure these lessons of health and fitness are taught to campers, the staff will be administering surveys on a weekly basis to determine basic tennis skills and fitness progress, and “to monitor the participants’ overall progress and help guide instruction,” Ringe said.
More research on the benefits of the camp on the Pottstown campers is being conducted by Diane Meck, Coordinator of Data Processing for The Tennis Farm. Meck will gather information about participants’ grades and attendance during the school year. Natalie Bartle from Drexel University's School of Public Health is also preparing research for an article about the impact of The Tennis Farm’s program on Pottstown’s elementary school students' grades, attendance, and fitness.
Additionally, The Hill School's Director of Summer Programs Grey Simpson supports the program by donating court time on the School's facilities for the camp’s use, as well as Gatorade containers filled with fluids to keep campers hydrated. Sodexho, The Hill’s food service provider, supplies the young athletes with healthy snacks and refreshments. The Tennis Farm’s equipment contractor Gamma and Fromuth makes donations to the camp to provide students with rackets and equipment which will be used as prizes. This is the second summer session in which The Hill, The Tennis Farm, Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation, and the Pottstown School District have collaborated to offer this camp for neighborhood children.
After achieving such great success with last year’s program, the sponsors and the district were eager to organize a second annual session of the camp. During the winter of 2010, fliers were distributed throughout the five Pottstown School district elementary schools to scope interest in the program. The district received an overwhelmingly positive response of 75 letters of interest. Pottstown physical education teachers then evaluated the candidates and, out of 75, the top 30 students were registered to participate in this summer’s program. The camp also welcomed back 27 out of the 33 students who completed the program last summer and achieved an impressive total grade score average of 87.9% for the 2009 school year.
During the first two weeks of the camp, students learned and refreshed basic tennis skills as well as participated in fitness-building activities on a daily basis while learning about scoring and strategy. The camp has incorporated lessons of nutrition and will entertain guest speakers from the State police, Pottstown Fire Company, and Pottstown School District whom will talk about the importance of citizenship. The final two weeks, students will be divided into teams for tournaments similar to high school matches, and the champions will be awarded medals.
Founded in 1973 by Cindy and Tom Ringe, The Tennis Farm has taught tennis to more than 24,000 participants at seven branches in the Delaware Valley. This includes the last 12 yeas at The Hill School under the direction of Margie Nieswender, Hill instructor of the arts.
The Tennis Farm hopes the camp will enable students to learn life-long lessons and develop healthy habits, and The Hill School has been pleased to participate in this community program.
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