On a beautiful summer day, scores of kids gathered sun screened, primed and ready for action with one thing on their minds.
Tennis.
One All Tennis and the Southern California Tennis Association hosted the Summer Blast Tennis Festival on Sunday June 30 at Kennedy Park in El Cajon.
Youngsters of all skills levels picked up racquets and rallied the afternoon away with music, games, prizes and fun.
On a beautiful summer day, scores of kids gathered sun screened, primed and ready for action with one thing on their minds.
Tennis.
One All Tennis and the Southern California Tennis Association hosted the Summer Blast Tennis Festival on Sunday June 30 at Kennedy Park in El Cajon.
Youngsters of all skills levels picked up racquets and rallied the afternoon away with music, games, prizes and fun.
Summer Blast was held to introduce tennis in an area where the sport has seen a downturn in recent years. Karen Ronney, tennis service representative for Southern California Tennis Association said she hopes to bring the sport back to East County.
“This is a grassroots effort,” she said. “A child can come out and have little or no experience, pick up a racquet and maybe fall in love with the sport and maybe we can get them into the food chain of tennis.”
Professional tennis coaches and volunteers taught the young players basic tennis fundamentals through a unique program called “10 and under tennis” which utilizes smaller courts, lighter tennis balls and rackets to maximize technique and fun.
Ronney said the new format allows draws in younger players and makes it easier for them to be more involved in the sport.
“What’s more fun than hitting a tennis ball,” she said. “When you play soccer you dribble the ball around. With baseball everyone is throwing the ball around, but in tennis it was too difficult the way we taught it before, this program is designed to make tennis really easy for kids.“
Frustrated with the lack of facilities for kids to play her beloved sport, All One Tennis Co-founder Tovi Mosey had an idea.
“I grew up playing tennis,” she said. “When my daughters started playing I looked around and asked myself what happened, no one is playing tennis in East County and I had to do something.”
In 2012 Mosey formed All One Tennis, a program aimed at sharing the love of tennis to the kids of East County and beyond. But All One is doing more than that.
“One All Tennis is a character development program using tennis as a vehicle,” she said. “Along with tennis we teach fitness, values, respect, and health and wellness. It’s really just a great all around program to help kids become better people.”
“And It’s a great chance for the kids to have fun,” she said. “There’s no competition and we really stress family involvement. Parents come out with their kids and learn right along with their kids.”
Mosey said she hopes to hold these type of events several times a year and work towards creating facilities the local schools and community members can enjoy.
“One All is trying to find private funds through donations to tear up the courts (at Kennedy Park) and completely rebuild them so the kids will have access to this amazing sport,” she said. “With the help of the United States Tennis Association, we hope to transform this into a place where practices and tournaments can be helping the commerce of the City of El Cajon.”
To register for upcoming festivals, other programs offered through One All or to make a donation please visit www.onealltennis.org.
