Holland Tennis
Holland Tennis: It isn’t Wimbledon, but the kids have fun
by Macklin Reid
Staff – The Wilton Bulletin | The Ridgefield Press
“Let’s go. Showtime!” says Greg Moran, director of tennis at the Four
Seasons Racquet Club. About a dozen kids aged 6 to 18 head out
to the courts, along with even more adults.
“Keep charge of him,” Moran says to another pro, nodding at a
student. “Don’t let him wander.”
Soon most of the kids are up near nets, swinging at balls being fed
to them with short underhand tosses. Sometimes a pro will stand
close behind and guide their swing. There’s encouragement —
a lot of it.
“Try to face this way,” says veteran pro Thom Preli, adjusting a
student’s stance to better hit mini-lob volleys from the gently fed balls. “Good. There you go. Tap it up. Tap it up. Nice shot!”
The kid isn’t hitting them far, but he’s connecting.
“Joseph, your turn,” Preli says to another student. “Tap it up. Ready? Backhands now.”
A big, handsome curly-haired 13-year-old launches a shot into the adjacent court.
“You’re almost on Court 3 again. Did you want to play on Court 3 today?”
A kid waiting to hit is bouncing up and down on his toes. He starts using his racquet as an imaginary guitar.
Greg Moran, meanwhile, has been helping a small frail-looking girl on the next court connect on grounds strokes, hitting fed balls on a bounce.
“She’s 16 years old, so we’re going to get 16 balls over,” he says to the helper feeding underhand tosses.
“Bounce and hit. There’s two. Bounce and hit, three … Bounce, seven. Bounce, eight, Nine — good shot!
“Try to hit Thom, the guy in the orange,” he kids, pointing at his fellow pro.
One of the girl’s shots lands in the cart full of balls that are being fed to her. She pumps her fist.
“I got it in the basket!”
When she finally hits an over-the-net shot, 17 — 16, and one to grow on — she gets double high-fives from the head pro.
Welcome to Holland Tennis. It’s an hour-long clinic Saturdays from 1 to 2 at Four Seasons, on Route 7 in Wilton. The students are special needs kids, so the ratio of pros and helpers to students is better than one to one.
“Each child has a buddy, so if we have 10 kids on the court, we’ve got 20 people on the court,” Greg Moran said.
“Most kids end up with a pro and at least one volunteer,” said Gary Berger, a Ridgefield parent who helped organize the program. “It’s the difference between a terrific program, and a lame program — the volunteers. The pro can focus on what they should focus on, watching the strokes, teaching…”
Patience and encouragement — a big part of any good beginner’s tennis lesson — come in double doses for Holland Tennis.
“It’s challenging, it’s rewarding,” Moran said. “The little successes are huge. I had a kid the other the day who finally hit a backhand over the net from four feet away, and he got so excited he started running around the court and then he came up and gave me a big hug.”
Berger, whose older son, Max, is autistic, approached Four Seasons about starting the program and helped put it together. A lifelong tennis player, he’s there very week with other helpers, feeding balls, offering encouragement.
“The kids are having fun,” he said. “It’s really great: the kids are really enjoying themselves. And they’re learning, they’re getting better.”
Mr. Berger started Ridgefield’s Holland Soccer with Soccer Club of Ridgefield in 2004, Holland Basketball with the Ridgefield Basketball Association the same year, and Holland Baseball with Ridgefield Little League and the support of high school coach Tony Wilmot in 2005. He started talking to Four Seasons about Holland Tennis after Max got interested in the sport while at a sleepaway camp last summer.
“The other sports have been very successful, but my son Max doesn’t have much of an interest in those sports,” he said. “Then, this past summer he went to camp. It turned out he really loved tennis, Who knew? I’ve played tennis my whole life… I found a sport he actually wanted to play.”
The “Holland” name derives from an essay, well-known among parents of special needs kids, in which Emily Perl Kingsley described parenting a disabled child with a vacation analogy.
“When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip — to Italy,” Ms. Kingsley wrote. “You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice…
“After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, ‘Welcome to Holland…’
Her point is that it’s not what was expected, but it can still be deeply rewarding.
“It’s just a different place,” she wrote. “It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.”
The Holland Tennis is kind of like that. It’s tennis lessons, but different, and rewarding.
“From a teaching perspective, this is a different circumstance. I think it makes us better teachers,” Moran said.
“It’s very rewarding, and the instructors feel the same way. They’re asking to do it. They really love it.”
Mr. Berger, who’s on the court regularly, believes the program also does a lot for the people who help.
“As much as the kids get out of it, the volunteers get more out of it,” he said.
“I think it’s an eye-opener for a lot of people. They feel good about themselves, and it changes their opinion about people with special needs when they have that kind of interaction and exposure.”
Lorraine and Larry Morley of Ridgefield chose to watch from the club lobby through the big window as their son, Bryce, 18, hits tennis balls.
“Less is more,” Larry Morely said. “A lot of times with a kid with special needs, your instinct to help them with everything — if you take a step back, sometimes they’ll surprise you with what they’re able to do.”
“It’s just important to find things our kids can do, in a natural environment,” said Lorraine Morley, “because they’ll all be out in the world, and they all have a lot to offer.”
What does Bryce get out of the tennis?
“A sense of accomplishment,” she said. “I think he feels good about himself.”
“They’ve really come up with a great group of volunteers to work with the kids,” Larry Morley added. “That’s not an easy thing.”
The volunteers are a group ranging from accomplished high school players to adults who’ve been around the game for years, play at the club all the time, and want to help.
Another parent watching was Kimber Felton of Wilton. Her daughter, Kate Ukropina, was teamed up with Kate Howard, a New Canaan High School player who volunteers.
“The girl is really cute with Kate,” she told the Morleys. “Her name is Kate, too. They’re calling themselves ‘Kate squared’.”
Patti Sylvia of Wilton feels the tennis, like WIlton’s TOP Soccer program, helps her son, Joseph, by giving him a chance to do things other kids do.
“Joseph loves the program and is looking forward to continuing in the new year,” she said. “We always are going to see his younger brother playing sports or participating in community events. It’s always been difficult for Joseph because he lacks the motor skills and coordination it takes to play at the level of his peers,” she said. “And, although he is considered very high functioning, it takes someone with patience who can break down the skills needed so that he could learn to play. Joseph really wants to do everything his friends do and with programs such as Holand Tennis and TOP Soccer he can! We are very thankful for Greg Moran, his staff and the many volunteers for meeting the needs of the community!”
Garry Berger feels the program benefits all this kids. “They get the same things out of it that typical kids get out of playing a sport,” he said. “They get to do something that’s fun, they get to learn skills and — important — they get exercise. I would say that for a kid with special needs they get a little extra out of it,” he added, “in that it’s not always easy to find activities that they can participate in.”
The second session of the program starts Jan. 7. It’s from 1 to 2 on Saturdays. Anyone interested may reach Greg Moran at 203-762-2423 or email: gmfsrc@optimum.net.
“I’d love to see it grow,” he said.
Garry Berger thinks it will. “I think everyone’s signing up again,” he said. “I don’t think anyone’s stopping after the session, and I know we’re adding some.” He feels it’s working for the kids. “They’re having fun. They’re learning,” he said. “It doesn’t get any better.”
His son Max will be back. “No question he loves it,” Mr. Berger said. “He always says he wants to play tennis.”
[end]