Contents:

News: City and FoNT Announce October Tennis Weekend

Q&A: Tim Mayotte, New City Tennis Director

Openings: Newton Centre Clay Courts

Updates: Citywide Volunteer Maintenance Projects 

News: City and FoNT Expand October Tennis Weekend

The Friends of Newton Tennis, Inc. announce the Garden City Tennis Weekend, Saturday, Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 2, at Newton South and Newton North High Schools. 

The weekend combines the 2nd Annual Newton Doubles Round Robin Open with a new children's event called Newton’s Kids Racquet Sports & Health Festival.

Scheduled for Sunday afternoon, the new children's event will introduce toddlers through teenagers to popular lifetime activities, including tennis, pickleball, badminton, table tennis, wheelchair tennis and different flavors of paddle tennis.

This two-day combined event is a collaboration by the City of Newton Parks, Recreation and Culture Dept. and The Friends of Newton Tennis. All proceeds and sponsorships will go to repair, maintenance and replacement of Newton's 67 heavily used public tennis courts.

For more information about events or sponsorships, contact Tom Friedman, at thomasharoldf@gmail.com 

The Future of Newton Tennis

An Interview: Tim Mayotte, New City Tennis Director

As I drove by the tennis courts at Newton South High School recently, I saw the silhouette of a large athletic man running side to side on a distant court.  He looked particularly fluid in his footwork and was strikingly artistic with his strokes. I decided to park and take a closer look.

While walking across the north bank of six green-and-blue hard courts, it hit me that I was watching Tim Mayotte, a former top ten player in the world and Newton’s new director of tennis. He was instructing a young boy, who was returning the former professional’s shots with almost equal fluidity.

(Tim in action at Newton South)

This scene on a recent late afternoon this Spring represents the beginning of a new era for Newton tennis -- a top touring professional teaching the area’s aspirational youth. “Gentleman Tim”, as the famous Globe columnist Bud Collins used to refer to this tall, lanky Springfield native, was beginning an odyssey on Newton’s public courts. This odyssey has the potential to change the Newton tennis scene forever with Tim’s signature and progressive lesson planning for adults and juniors.

To capture Tim’s vision for Newton tennis, The Friends of Newton Tennis spoke with him and one of his two partners, Mark McIntyre, who was formerly Executive Director of Riverside Clay Tennis Association (a 900- member organization similar to The Friends of Newton Tennis on Manhattan’s Upper West Side). Tim, Mark and Frank Butera, a Newton resident and well-known local tennis pro, won a competitive bidding process in mid-February to oversee Newton’s city tennis program.

1.   What are your general instructional priorities?

We will teach mostly based on level, which is sometimes difficult to ascertain.  For beginners, it has to do with basic stroke production and ability to keep a rally going. Then, as you go up the ladder, it has to do with more about competition -- the ability to compete. Now, the offerings on the website for the Spring include the adult group clinics designed for five levels of proficiencies or graded categories for men or women.  For adults, in the early going, you have more general groups such as Adult Tennis 101 for first-time players and Advanced Beginner for players with more experience. Then as demand builds, we will be able to separate out and offer more specific levels. Children are trickier in that, unlike with adults, age is as much a selection factor as skill level. For example, a beginner who is six years old would not be in the same class as a beginner who is 11 years old. Thus, we have a beginner level for each age group, and an intermediate level for each age group. For example, we have red ball 1, orange ball 1, green ball 1, etc. and red, orange, and green 2. To put it more succinctly, we have an entry level class for youth at each age group.  In the early going, it is going to be more beginner oriented, and will be more differentiated by summer and year over year.

2.  Who do you want to see taking group lessons?

Beginners can take any type of lesson; but a group is more fun and less expensive. In the beginner’s class, we will teach about different grips and swing shapes. For those who don’t know much about tennis, we will introduce scoring, how a match is played, and basic etiquette.  We intend for these classes to be enjoyable and energetic for people at the same level and serve as a great introduction to tennis.

On the psychological side, this is where you can make a huge difference with beginners. It is difficult for beginners because they come to the sport with different mental, emotional, technical, and physical abilities. A good coach will work as quickly as possible to assess each player and create a direction. If you have a competitive person, who is not fearful of learning and trying new things, you get into the technical or tactical side of the game. On the other hand, with a person who is self-conscious and less confident and not willing to make mistakes, you develop other tactics. When it comes to physical issues, you might have a child with known limitations or an older person with a knee replacement, you identify those as an issue that requires you to craft the appropriate approach. For example, you would create an approach that compensates for lack of mobility. In my experience, a good coach identifies those tendencies or elements from the outset and works through them. In the ideal world in a group lesson, everyone is similar and a single system works.  But that is usually not the case. So, a great coach adjusts a lesson to each of the four or five students simultaneously. This is not easy and requires a special coach.

3.  How many students will be in a group lesson?

We will have up to five for adult clinics.  We will move ahead with classes with three. If we have less, we will accommodate players with another class if convenient – or possibly an individual lesson.  Our children’s classes will have up to five or six. Parents can choose five or six person classes and pay accordingly

4.  Will you personally offer individual lessons?

I am not offering lessons.  I will run a few small groups for high-level juniors by request, but only in the Spring and Fall.  In the Summer, I will split my time between overseeing the Newton camps in the morning and running a high-performance camp at Wightman Tennis Center.

I do like teaching individual lessons. I enjoy all the elements from meeting new students, assessing their skills and talents, working short- and long-term goals, and developing training strategies. This is like an intake that doctors do.  I want to know about their commitment to training and whether they are preparing for tournaments. I also ask about who their tennis heroes are to know how they want to play.  My personal tennis heroes, who I emulated during my playing career, were Rod Laver, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, and a few others who stood up in difficult times to make difficult decisions.

5. How many instructors will you hire?

It is a chicken-and-an egg problem at the outset this Spring. Now, we are monitoring enrollment numbers and will have coaches for classes we fill. During the summer, we will have camps and will have more coaches on board. But since we are new to Newton, it is going to be piecemeal.  Nevertheless, we intend to expand quickly and to ultimately have pros working at every facility in Newton.  With this as our goal, we can offer group programming, private lessons, leagues and match play from early morning to dusk.  Having said that, we are not hiring any coaches to just fill our needs, we are looking for quality teachers.

6.   Who are you hiring for your staff? Typical qualifications?

We have no one strategy for hiring.  We are using a mix of coaches, many of whom already have impacted the community.  I am bringing up Ward Jannuzzi from Florida, where he was working with the Cliff Drysdale group, but who worked with me at Thoreau Club and has taught players in Newton before. Our third partner, Frank Butera, is heading up our programming and will be on the courts teaching, too.  I am interviewing a handful of very good professionals, who worked for the previous tennis director, or who have taught on the Newton courts on their own and developed a solid reputation.  I encourage other tennis professionals to apply.  I am eager to help young professionals, too, who would benefit from my years of coaching at the highest level.

7. How will you control/monitor the quality of instruction?

First, I will put out the parameters to all our coaches.  This is what we expect in a lesson plan depending on the different levels.  I am looking for coaches who can teach at different levels but who are also fun, energetic, and curious.  Those are the key three characteristics I like to see in a coach.  They also need to know how to keep the lesson moving while demonstrating lots of passion and having the ability to listen to a client while observing their play.  In more advanced lessons, we will be sensitive to players' goals.  For example, if two people are getting ready to play in a doubles tournament, we will craft their lesson around overheads and quick exchanges.  We can also zero in on more technical issues they are struggling with. I will be cruising around the city this Spring, looking at lessons at different sites to familiarize myself with coaches and clients. That way, I am putting together the primary elements of what the coaches need to understand about Newton tennis and what is going to make them successful.

I (Mark McIntyre) would add that customer feedback is a huge influencing factor. As administrators, we will know which teaching pros that the people want because their lessons will fill up much faster.  This will begin to influence who teaches where and which groups. It takes time to do this on an aggregate basis. In my experience, clients are very helpful in making these judgments because they will tell who a great pro is and who is not so good. With this information, we can begin promoting individual coaches and their classes with more specificity.  We are not there yet; we are still filling up classes.

8.   How will you measure success in the first year?  What are your key performance indicators?

It is going to be based on the number of people participating in our structured programs.  In addition, we will know if we are succeeding with the program if the courts are full of our clients. We are hoping the more people are engaged in group and private lessons, the more demand there will be for courts.  We also hope to assess through our soon-to-be-released court booking signup system, which is still in the works but should be ready before summer.  In terms of intangibles, we are hoping kids in our program will become excited enough to play on their high school teams and in USTA tournaments around New England.

9.   How will you limit/control competition from independent pros?

We are aware of the public outcry for and against independent coaches teaching on Newton courts.  The good news: there are plenty of people who want to take lessons and have turned to these tennis professionals.  On the other hand, many residents have complained about independent coaches dominating courts during prime hours.  We look at a resolution in this way:  First, if we succeed with our programming, we will create an equal or better alternative. Through natural competition, this will limit business for independent pros in Newton and they will go elsewhere.   Believe me, if there is a demand for lessons, we plan to cover this until supply equals demand.  Secondly, I have traveled the city watching independent pros teach and I have invited some to work for us.  Many of these pros are terrific and have built a real trust and history with their clients. Thirdly, the city Parks & Rec Dept. is planning to hire park rangers, who will enforce the existing tennis regulations that require teaching pros to have insurance, a CORI check and a paid court permit.

We are going to work with The Friends of Newton Tennis to explain to residents that our city tennis program is generating city revenues to repair, maintain and replace city courts.  However, this is not the case with independent teaching pros.  I think it merits, to say, that the courts have suffered over the years.  While we want to be fair to all the teaching pros and their clients, the lack of financial contribution over many years for the city’s court repair and maintenance by independent teaching pros is unconscionable. We are pushing to make the courts a real jewel of the city, as they should be.

For more information, visit Tim Mayotte Tennis at https://newtontmtennis.myrec.com/ or email Mark McIntyre at Mark.TSMTennisLLC@gmail.com

Openings: Newton Centre Clay Courts This Weekend

Considered one of the city's jewels, Newton's five Har-tru tennis courts at Newton Centre Playground are expected to open for play at 9 AM Saturday, April 30.  Prior to play, the courts require residents and non-residents to pay a one-time seasonal fee, which offers access to courts anytime, a convenient court reservation system and restroom.  To purchase your permit, click here.

Spring Volunteer Maintenance Projects 

1) Newton North (resurfacing - research and advocacy)

2) Newton North (purchased new windscreens & hanging)

3) Newton Centre Playground (hanging windscreens and rented port-a-potty for the 2022 season)

4) Newton Highlands Playground (daily sweeping, replacing fence trash bags, fence door and net post repairs)

5) Stearns Park (daily sweeping, net upkeep, and crack repair)

6) McGrath Park West (net post repair, weekly sweeping of leaves and debris, including small sharp stones from adjacent dog park)

7) Newton South (crack monitoring, trash pickup and hanging trash bags)

8) The Cove (sweeping, crack monitoring,and fence repairs)

9) Cold Spring Park (trash pickup and sweeping)

10) City-wide Tennis Court Audit (field inspection, reporting and data compilation and analysis) 

To volunteer at your neighborhood courts, please contact Tom Friedman, at thomasharoldf@gmail.com.

Please Help Fix Newton’s Courts - Join, Donate or Both

For more information about The Friends of Newton Tennis, click now