A trio of women from South Jamaica are sharing their love for tennis across the boroughs. Metro Sisters Circle Tennis Club, a Queens-based tennis club formed a little over two months ago, has amassed a strong following of women eager to get on the court.
Founded by Essence Weller, 33, her sister Shaniece Weller, 25, and her best friend, Angelique Lewis, 32, the club invites women of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels to play tennis together in courts across Queens and Brooklyn.
Essence said the club was founded after a video of the trio playing tennis went viral. “My best friend posted a video of us playing on her TikTok, and she was like, ‘Hey, is there anybody who wants to play with us?’ We did not know what would happen, and it blew up overnight,” she said.
After the viral video, the women quickly realized the impact a club could have on the local community. They created an Instagram account and an email subscription service for women throughout the five boroughs, and since then, Metro Sisters Circle has taken off. “A lot of the tennis clubs that we’ve seen are exclusive to a particular niche of women or a niche of people, and we wanted it to be all-inclusive to have that diversity, the belonging factor,” Essence said.
So far, over 250 women have signed up to participate in their free weekly tennis meetups. Every Sunday, around 30-40 women and girls of all ages meet at a designated court in Queens or Brooklyn to play and socialize. Queens locations include Roy Wilkins Park, Liberty Park and Brookville Park, and Brooklyn sessions are held at Linden Park Tennis Court. Every session is free to attend; the only requirement is to sign up via an Eventbrite link that they send out every Wednesday. Essence added that the club provides rackets that can be rented for $15 for the duration of the day.
At the meetups, the trio coach beginner players and facilitate matches for all the attendees. Many of the members forge friendships as they build their tennis skills together. “It’s so much fun. If you come one time, you’re going to want to keep coming,” Essence said. “It helps them with their mental health, and it’s hard to make new friends. So they’ve made a lot of friendships meeting the other girls.”
Essence said the club has garnered considerable attention on social media due to their trendy, themed tennis meetups. “We’ve done a coquette theme, neon, pink, a splash of color. This Monday coming up on Labor Day, we’re going to do a rep your flag theme,” she said. We have girls of all different sizes and ethnic groups, so we want to keep that diversity at the forefront of what we’re doing.”
Although she did not grow up playing tennis, Essence has always gravitated toward the sport.
She has loved tennis since childhood, and her desire to stay active as a touring musician drove her to pick up a racket and start playing. “I was like, okay, I got to get in shape for the tour. Tennis is an extreme cardio sport. You don’t have to do that much, but it is a lot of work, and you’ll get a lot of cardio. You’re burning a lot of calories quickly,” she said. “We got into it, and once we started playing, it was addictive.”
Essence said the trio just got the “itch” to play tennis all the time, and it has now become their passion. “We love to play, and we want to be able to play more and extend it beyond the Sundays,” she said.
Metro Sisters Circle Tennis Club has garnered support from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and International Tennis Federation (ITF), a milestone Essence believes is monumental for the club. The USTA invited the trio to a Juneteenth event over the summer and recently gave them tickets to the U.S. Open. “They want to get behind what we’re doing, and they’re super supportive of what we do,” Essence said. “They always repost our content; we post their content. It’s just great to be recognized by them. It’s a different scale when the USTA recognizes you and you’re a small tennis league. It’s so big.”
Essence said the club is eager to collaborate with various organizations. They recently partnered with St. Mary’s Clothing Drive and the nonprofit Swapped for a “Swap X Swing” event in Brooklyn, where players swapped gently worn or never-worn clothing. Any leftover clothing was donated to St. Mary’s Clothing Drive.
As for the club’s future, the founders hope to transition into a nonprofit and expand practice sessions to other parts of the tri-state area. “We’re now seeking resources to play in Jersey, on Long Island, in Brooklyn. We’re just out here making those connections to get sponsorships or more press, basically exposure, so that we can keep growing our organization,” Essence said.
