TRENTON — Tennis is a game that always starts with love.

That’s right where the story of the National Junior Tennis and Learning of Trenton begins, too. In 1975, four volunteers stepped onto the tennis courts of Cadwalader Park to lead a three-week summer program with only a $200 budget and their love for the game. That summer, 30 kids attended.

Now celebrating its 40th year, the program serves more than 2,500 kids through its free tennis and education programs.

Just last year it dedicated its 2-story Daniel L. Haggerty, Jr. Pavilion, which provides a great overhead view of its courts.

“Having our little itty bitty organization and being able to lead that whole renovation and having it named 2013 national public facility of the year was awesome,” said Rob Howland, executive director of the organization.

The dedication of the pavilion was itself a historic moment for the tennis organization, but to top it all off, two tennis stars squared off in an exhibition match.

“We had Jim Courier and Todd Martin, Grand Slam Champions. It doesn’t get any better than that. And our kids played with them,” said Howland.

But bringing these unforgettable memories to Trenton’s youth is only a recent luxury of the program. It is the culmination of decades of steady growth that Howland chalks up to the visionary people who have been involved over the years.

FOSTERING A LOVE OF THE GAME

Michelle Gbelama, the organization’s program director, participated in the program when she was a student at Trenton High School. “They would send a bus for us on Saturdays and take us to Mercer Airport which was Mercer County Park at the time,” she recalled. “Every Saturday I was always so excited to come.”

After her high school tennis seasons, she returned to the the program to teach tennis to the kids in the program, just as she was taught not long before.

Gbelama earned a scholarship to play for Drew University, and was also the first Geisel Scholarship recipient, which the program gives to help pay for tennis equipment, books and other similar needs. During her senior year, Gbelama captained Drew’s women’s team to a conference championship.

Without the tennis program, Gbelama doesn’t know where she would be today. “I probably would have played tennis for a few months and quit because I didn’t have the support or a place to practice,” Gbelama said.

“After I graduated college I went to work on Wall Street, but I didn’t like it too much. I thought I would, but my personality fits more with going back home and knowing I’d make a difference.”

HONORING THOSE WHO BELIEVED

Many of those who who helped found the organization and build it into the program it is today were honored at the 22nd annual gala, which netted some accomplished attendees.

The gala, which took place in March, featured guests including former New York Mayor David Dinkins, Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson and Katrina Adams, the first African-American president of the United States Tennis Association.

In its early years, a few successful summer sessions passed before the program received a small grant from the city. Soon after, it became an official organization, but for about a decade the program remained relatively static.

It wasn’t until the late 1980s, when a board of directors was formed, and with the stability of a board, that fundraising efforts shot up.

The organization’s history is enmeshed in tennis, right down to the sport’s scoring system. To claim a game in tennis, a player progresses from love, to 15, to 30, to 40, and then a game is won. Uncannily, these milestones line up with milestones of the program’s history.

MORE THAN JUST SPORT

At first, all the founders had was love. The love that those four volunteers had for the game of tennis. But, 15 years after that first summer program, it branched its services out to include mentoring and tutoring, as well as tennis.

“One of our founding board members was really pushing for education,” said Howland, “so we started a tennis and tutoring program.”

The addition of tutoring was a major step for the Trenton organization. It provided a little room to expand, but they still had a long way to go.

“In 2005 we hired our first full-time executive director, Dan Faber, who was a teacher, so he took the educational side of things and really took it even further. It was a leap of faith for the board to hire someone because we were still small,” recalled Howland.

The leap of faith turned out to be a stroke of genius.

In 2005, 30 years after that first summer clinic, the program was named by the Unites States Tennis Association the Chapter of the Year.

Adding new events like the Capital Cup and U.S. Open bus trips helped the program continue to grow, all the while that summer program was still swinging strong, year after year.

Eventually, though, the tutoring needed some tweaking. “It was repetitive of the classroom, it was boring,” Howland said. “If a kid is in school all day, do you think they want to do more schoolwork? So Dan Faber and two educators came up with A.C.E. (Academic Creative Engagement) as a way to make our educational component experiential and fun.”

One fun way of learning with A.C.E. lets students trade in rackets for iPads to study geometric terms using the lines of a tennis court “I wish I had learned like that,” Howland said.

Other programs across the country soon wanted to use the A.C.E. curriculum. “We sold it to the USTA and now it’s being used by over 50 other NJTL chapters around the country,” says Howland.

Now, in its 40th year, the program serves some 2,500 youths. “This year our goal is 2,700 kids,” Howland said.

40-love: Trenton tennis training center marks 4 decades of play

By John Irvine Times of Trenton Correspondent ~ May 18, 2015