It shouldn’t stick out. That was the directive given to Gluck+, the architects commissioned with designing the $26.5 million Cary Leeds Center—the new centerpiece of New York Junior Tennis & Learning. Set amidst Crotona Park, a sprawling 130-acre public space in the South Bronx, the hope was not to bring an overwhelming presence to the urban community. So the two-story, 12,000-foot clubhouse had a level built underground to minimize its footprint, and its two sunken stadium courts were carefully constructed.
But the truth is, given the impressiveness of the new facility and the good works of the organization, it’s impossible for the NYJTL to remain under the radar.
The NYJTL has been mentoring youth in both tennis and life since 1971. An offshoot of the National Junior Tennis League, founded by Arthur Ashe and Charlie Pasarell in 1969, the New York chapter was started two years later by Ashe and founder and chairman emeritus Lewis “Skip” Hartman.
While the program has succeeded in producing its share of talented players, Ashe envisioned an impact much broader than cultivating champions. He wanted the organization to serve as a tool to teach children from kindergarten through 12th grade broader life skills, such as teamwork and responsibility. Tennis achievement, academic enrichment and character development serve as the organization’s pillars.
Over NYJTL’s 45-year existence, the numbers speak for themselves: 10,000 children mentored annually by 4,000 staff members; 75,000 kids reached through tennis training from P.E. instructors in all five boroughs; 500,000 hours of free tennis in 100 percent of NYC council districts; 3 million hours of year-round tennis programs, academics, healthy living and personal growth for children and their families. There are also initiatives, such as FACES and Volley against Violence, that address pressing issues in the South Bronx. One of the greatest compliments to the NYJTL is that many of its site directors were once students in the program.
With the Cary Leeds Center, the organization has a state-of-the-art hub from which to increase its impact. In 2013, with a nearly 50/50 split in public and private funding, ground broke on the facility, as well as on reconstructing Crotona Park’s 20 existing courts. The site opened two years later, with the stadium courts completed this April.
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