Sportsmen’s Tennis & Enrichment Center’s mission is to build leaders on the court, in the classroom, and in the community by providing academic and social development programs alongside recreational and competitive tennis instruction for youth and adults.Sportsmen's is committed to improving life opportunities for youth in Boston's Blue Hill Corridor while welcoming a diverse community from the Greater Boston area. Sportsmen’s Tennis & Enrichment Center leverages tennis to open doors of opportunity for youth in some of Boston’s most underserved communities, offering comprehensive tennis instruction on our campus and at schools throughout Boston. Unlike many non-profit tennis organizations, we employ
top-level, certified coaches who have competed or trained players at the highest levels of tennis. Our goal is to develop players capable of playing college tennis. Sportsmen’s is one of the 20 largest organizations in the United States that combine tennis with academic and life skills programming for youth, under the US Tennis Association (USTA) National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) concept created by Arthur Ashe. We serve over 5,000 young people annually from all walks of life, including many who might otherwise never set foot on a tennis court or a college campus. Sportsmen’s targets the Blue Hill Corridor, including parts of Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, Hyde Park, South Boston and Jamaica Plain, and creates a pipeline from these inner city neighborhoods to college campuses all over the United States. Sportsmen’s is the only organization in New England
ever to have been commended by the USTA for multicultural excellence. In addition to our successful youth programs, Sportsmen’s is the home club to roughly 300 adult members who rent courts, take lessons and compete on our traveling teams. This creates a revenue stream that supplements philanthropic support, and builds a community of adults who share their time and talents with our youth. We also provide crucial health and wellness programs that target the most pressing chronic health issues in Boston’s inner cities. Sportsmen’s has four mission-driven program areas:
1.Youth Tennis – We seek to place local, low-income and/or minority youth on a clear developmental pathway to high performance, college/post secondary level tennis;
2.The Learning Center (TLC) at Sportsmen’s – TLC Youth enrichment programs provide high quality out-of-school time (OST) academic tutoring for less-advantaged K-5 students to build fundamental skills in reading, science and math. We use evidence-based practices to develop character, self-confidence and self-management, promoting respect for self and others, with a focus on social and emotional wellness;
3. Health and Wellness — Sportsmen’s brings free life-changing health and wellness programs, including educational forums and free use of our fitness center for neighborhood adults
through the Brigham and Women’s Center for Community Wellness (CCW). We incorporate a similar curriculum into our free youth development programs; and
4. Adult Tennis – Adult tennis is pivotal to furthering the Sportsmen’s mission, modeling a healthy, active lifestyle for our youth, encouraging adults to become or remain active throughout their lives, and providing both a source of revenue and a pool of committed volunteers.
