Tennis champion builds winners

Tennis legend Virginia Wade (back row, center) offered a free clinic to participants of the Chase Aces Tournament Team at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park recently.
The session, on Saturday, February 9, was part of the “City Parks Tennis” program sponsored by City Parks Foundation with support from JPMorgan Chase.
The tournament team is comprised of kids from the August tournament, selected for their athletic ability, academic standing (they must maintain a B average, economic need and performance of community service.
They and over thirty other youths from Queens and across the city are now receiving free tennis instruction year round. Before this the program only ran during the summer months.
One of the oldest and largest municipal tennis programs in the country, the “City Parks Tennis” program offers free beginner, intermediate and advanced instruction to over 7,000 kids aged five to 16, every summer.
Hundreds of program graduates have earned college athletic scholarships and achieved regional and national rankings.