Tennis, everyone?

It’s Juwan Bennett’s turn to serve midway through a boys’ doubles practice match on a scorching Thursday afternoon.

"Forty-thirty," the 12-year-old calls out to the three other players on the Barry Playground tennis court at 18th and Bigler streets.

Bennett delivers a smooth serve across the net to Robert Cammisa-Cantz, 16, who stands poised to return a forehand shot to Bennett and his partner, Jason Kohn, 15.

Bennett returns the ball and Cammisa-Cantz’s partner, Stephen Sanchez, 13, drives it back to Bennett to even the score: 40-40.

Through Aug. 11, kids all over the city, including at Barry Playground, are learning how to play tennis through the National Junior Tennis League (NJTL). The annual league camps are sponsored by the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, which is based in Manayunk.

Ashe, who died in 1993 after contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion following heart surgery in 1983, was the first and, so far, only black man to hold the No. 1 world ranking in tennis. He was also the first black man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, accumulating more than 800 wins in his career, which spanned 1969-79.

Ashe established NJTL because he wanted to give inner-city youths a chance to learn the sport, as well as life skills.

"That was Arthur’s dream to get tennis out of the country clubs and get it out to the playgrounds. That’s how he learned to play. If he had to rely on a country club, he would never have learned to play," said Tina Tharp, NJTL operations manager.

And neither would Saturday’s Wimbledon winner Venus Williams, whose two-hour, 45-minute match was the longest Wimbledon women’s final on record. Venus and her twin sister, Serena, also a top-ranked player, are from Compton in California and both honed their skills at a playground infested with drug dealers, said NJTL site manager Alan Blackwell, a friend of the sisters’ former coach.

"Their father used to pay the drug dealers to leave so his daughters could get in their five hours," said Blackwell.

A native of Charlotte, N.C., and former college tennis coach, Blackwell oversees Arthur Ashe camps in South and Southwest Philly.

THE NJTL SEVEN-WEEK
program is offered for ages 7-8 Monday through Friday at 58 sites in Philadelphia, as well as three in Camden and two in Norristown. The local sites are Barry Playground; Wharton Square tennis courts, 23rd and Wharton streets; and Weccacoe Playground, Fourth and Catharine streets.

The program runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with novice players meeting in the morning and intermediate and advanced meeting in the afternoon.

In addition to instruction, youngsters compete against each other in regional and citywide NJTL matches.

The fee is $60 per child, but for those who cannot afford to pay, scholarships are available. More than 75 percent of the participants are using scholarships. The summer program has 164 instructors with one head coach and one or two junior instructors at each site.

Rachel Cammisa-Cantz, 20, from 26th and Mifflin streets, and her 36-year-old mother, Rosina, have been coaching the Barry Playground camp for the last three years. Rachel’s 16-year-old brother Joseph is a junior coach. Two other siblings, Robert, 16, and Jillian, 6, are learning how to play tennis at the camp.

Rachel finds coaching gratifying.

"I like seeing the kids out here playing rather than being home doing nothing. Kids are making friends and not only learning tennis but life skills," she said. The most rewarding part for Rachel, who is a biology and drama major at Temple University, is seeing the kids develop as human beings.

"They’re nicer, more open by the end," she said.

Rosina, who played tennis on her St. Maria Goretti High School team, enrolled her three oldest children in the NJTL camp when they were younger. Rosina felt tennis was a safe alternative to contact sports.

"It’s a nice sport where kids can come and enjoy themselves and learn. We’re friendly people," said Rosina.

This is Robert’s eighth summer at Barry Playground. The Neumann-Goretti sophomore says he wants to turn pro some day, as does Bennett, a sophomore at GAMP and a resident of the 2200 block of South Lambert Street.

"I like the sport entirely. I was good when I started so I decided to play again," Robert said.

Bennett was inspired to take up the racket because his older brother, Antonio, a GAMP junior, plays for his school team.

"I think it’s fun. I like the competitiveness and meeting other people," Bennett said.

In keeping with Ashe’s philosophy, all programs offered through Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education must offer some educational benefit.

In addition to tennis, participants learn life skills through two half-hour sessions a week. Coaches set aside time to teach kids basic social skills, such as how to introduce themselves to others, as well as proper study habits, health and hygiene, and nutrition. The program also gives youths a chance to enter tennis-themed national writing and art contests.

"[Ashe] believed that on the tennis court you also learn life lessons. Hence the life-skills curriculum. Tennis is a lot like life where every decision you make has to be made quickly and every decision you make affects the direction you take," Tharp said.

Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education was formerly the Philadelphia Tennis Patrons Association, which was founded in 1952 at its present location by Philly retail giant William Clothier of Strawbridge & Clothier. In 1969, the association purchased an indoor tennis facility to which Ashe gave naming rights and founded NJTL with two others. NJTL is one of many programs offered through the umbrella organization, of which Advanta is a principal sponsor.

For more information, log on to www.arthurashetennis.org.