September 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 76

NET GENERATION

Cabot Parks and Recreation's Rally Cats
tennis program helps introduce 4- to 10year-olds to the game of tennis.

great because, from a school district
perspective, you're providing those
physical education teachers with not
only training, but also the equipment
and the curriculum. It's a win-win
for our teachers. And once you get
the buy-in from the teachers, they're
going to believe in it, and they're going to pass it on to the kids. When
the teachers get excited about it, the
kids get excited about it. "
So far, more than 3,500 teachers
nationwide have undergone a background screening through the National Center for Safety Initiatives
and completed SafeSport training, courses organized by the U.S.
Center for SafeSport with the aim
of making sports " free from bullying, hazing, sexual misconduct or
any form of emotional or physical abuse. " In addition, more than
1,700 teachers have registered their
P.E. programs for Net Generation.
The Cabot Parks and Recreation
department runs a tennis program,
called Rally Cats, that's aimed at
4- to 10-year-olds and helps introduce youngsters to the sport. It
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Parks & Recreation

was started in the spring and attracted 40 children to the first session. Many also registered to join
a youth league that's run by the
park department. The program was
offered for an hour a week over a
six-week period during the school
break. Next year, the department
will use the Net Generation curricula to offer different programs depending on a player's ability.
" Everyone was wanting to try a dif-

ferent sport, especially in the summer
when they're at home, " says Cabot
Parks and Recreation Program Director Lorenzo Mendoza. " It gets them
outside and helps them stay active.
We have football, basketball, softball
and volleyball that are growing, so
why not offer a different sport, too?
It's a great opportunity we have to
work with the school district. "
Jamie Oitker, a supervisor and
P.E. teacher at Central Elementary School in Cabot, adds: " [The
partnership] is huge because we're
building the foundation, and then
they're providing opportunities to
reach even higher levels. They're
providing kids extra preparation
for lifetime activities.
" Any exposure to learning the
fundamentals is great, especially if it
makes them excited to play or makes
them ask their parents to do more.
It's awesome. We need to inspire our
kids to be active their whole life. Just
giving each of the kids a racquet and
a ball, they absolutely loved it. The
laughter, the smiles and screams of
joy, they had a blast. "

For information on any of the programs mentioned in
this article:
* United States Tennis Association: www.usta.com/en/home/play/
programs-for-everyone.html#high-school-tennis
* The USTA hosted a webinar, titled " Working with Schools and Parks & Recreation, " earlier this year. To view the recording and a list of USTA webinars:
https://usta.com/webinars or USTA.com/webinars
* Find your Tennis Service Representative: https://www.usta.com/en/home/organize/
program-resources/national/finding-your-tennis-service-representative--tsr-.html
* Net Generation: https://netgeneration.usta.com/
* Net Generation Parks and Recreation page: NetGeneration.com/parksandrec
* Cabot Parks and Recreation department: www.cabotparks.com/cabot-youthtennis-rallycats/
Ashley Marshall is the Assistant Managing Editor, Corporate Communications, for the United
States Tennis Association (ashley.marshall@usta.com).

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September 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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