Last Saturday, more than 40 boys and girls, aspiring starsenrolled in a Boston summer tennis camp, sat mesmerized before a big-screen television at their Dorchester racquet club, watching theirfavorite player compete in the Wimbledon women's semifinals.
As they cheered each point, club pro Nigel Griffith used it as alesson, scribbling diagrams on a large blackboard, explaining thereason behind each racquet stroke and angle.
But the young members of the Sportsmen's Tennis Club couldn'tcontain themselves when Venus Williams - their hero, their rolemodel, and their teacher during a clinic here in March - defeatedrival Lindsay Davenport.
'We talk to the kids about sportsmanship and applauding everypoint,' said Alveta Haynes, executive director of the Sportsmen'sTennis Club. 'But the kids feel a special relationship with Venus.'
That's because they have a lot in common with her. Most of theSportsmen's Club's young athletes are black and come from the city'spoorest neighborhoods, and all are participating in a sport moreassociated with affluent white players and well-heeled country clubs.
Largely because of the rise of Williams, who won this year'sWimbledon title, and her sister Serena - both of whom learned thegame from their father on the hardscrabble courts of South CentralLos Angeles - interest in tennis has skyrocketed in the African-American community, particularly among young city girls who see thesisters as strong, athletic role models.
But that interest has made the Sportsmen's Club's usual struggleto make ends meet even more difficult. And this year, the club hashad record waiting lists, lacking the space and the money to teachthe game to any child who wants to learn.
'We try to keep all of our programming affordable because we arein a working-class community, so every time a child steps on thecourt we basically lose money,' said Haynes. Despite donations fromthe city and sports equipment manufacturers, she added, it costs theclub an average of $30 each time a child steps on the court.
'We always need more funding,' she said, 'because the more kidsthat we bring in to play tennis the more money we lose.'
And now that Venus Williams has won back-to-back titles in thesport's most prestigious tournament, her connection to the club iscertain to fuel even more local interest.
Each morning at the Sportsmen's Club, Haynes said, hundreds ofchildren of all ages are on the club's indoor courts, running,jumping, and shouting. She described the sounds of their racquets,sneakers, and ground strokes echoed off the walls like the ballsbeing volleyed across the net: pop, squeak, unghh.
Sara Redd, a 16-year-old sophomore at Boston Latin School who hasplayed tennis with the Sportsmen's Club for eight years, said theclub 'is like a second home.'
'A lot of my friends are from here,' said Sara, who won the NewEngland Regional Doubles Tournament with Jennifer Seide, her 15-year-old partner, last month. 'The club has taught me good lessons andmorals in life, like respect and discipline,' she said.
According to a 1999 survey by ESPN Chilton and Neilson MediaResearch, tennis is now the fourth most popular sport among African-Americans, behind football, basketball, and baseball. And enrollmentin the Sportmen's Club's tennis programs has nearly doubled each yearsince 1999, not long after the Williams sisters emerged as eliteplayers.
That year, the club enrolled more than 400 kids, Haynes said. Thisyear, more than 1,000 children are in the program throughout theyear, and there are long waiting lists for classes in each age group.
The club makes tennis affordable for youths with limited means bycharging far less for lessons than most other clubs in the area. Butthat means the club operates on a shoestring annual budget of about$500,000, relying mainly on corporate sponsors and fund-raisers.
The Sportsmen's Club offers 30 lessons for $5 during the schoolyear as well as intense, two-week summer sessions with certifiedUnited States Tennis Association instructors for $150. The generalphilosophy of the club is to use tennis as a means for keeping kidshealthy, in school, and out of trouble.
'One of the club's founders, Jim Metts, had a little saying: `Achild found in the tennis courts is seldom found in the criminalcourts,' ' Haynes said. 'We can look back over the history of theclub and see that's true.'
Much of the club's current funding comes from Laury Hammel,president of the Longfellow Sports Clubs, a private chain of racquetclubs based in Natick. Stoughton-based Reebok and the city of Bostonalso contribute to keep the program going, but the club's budget isstretched thin.
The club plans to launch a fund-raiser later this summer for much-needed extra courts and personnel to accommodate the rise in demand.And Haynes said the club never stops applying for grants and cityfunding.
But unless the fund-raiser brings hundreds of thousands of moredollars into the club - and if the Williams sisters continue to playchampionship-level tennis - the waiting lists are sure to grow evenlonger.
'A lot of people who know female athletes don't know about inner-city girls playing sports,' said Redd, adding that girls look up tothe Williams sisters and the local tennis stars that the clubproduces. 'It gets the younger girls to come out and play.'
Girls like Erin Fleming, a 17-year-old junior at Boston LatinSchool who has played with the club for the past eight years. Shehopes to get a tennis scholarship to college after she graduates.
'The kids turned away are at a real disadvantage,' Fleming said. 'This experience has taught me a lot and opened up a lot of doors.'
