BISMARCK FACILITY PART OF TENNIS REVOLUTION.

The clock at courtside ticks down. :59 ... :58 ... :57 ... :56 ... :55 ... When the ball is in play, points go on the board at a rate of one point every three to four seconds. :30 ... :29 ... :28 ... :27 ... :26 ... "A lot of times, the Park & Recreation philosophy is no scoring," says Brent Frueh, a facility specialist in the Bismarck (N.D.) Parks and Recreation District. "But the scoring has been a good thing for us." :10 ... :09 ... :08 ... The parents at courtside are crazy with excitement. :07 ... :06 ... :05 ... The final shot is in the air. :04 ... :03 ... :02 ... The ball falls in just as the buzzer sounds. Children squeal in delight. Parents clap, beaming with pride.

Who knew tennis could provide this kind of thrill?

Yes, tennis.

Beginning this month, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) will be providing a monthly column to tell you about the new and exciting things going on in tennis at park and recreation facilities nationwide. The general goals of the USTA and the NRPA are the same: to promote active and healthy lifestyles. The USTA just happens to concentrate on tennis as a means to such lifestyles.

The scene depicted in the opening of this column is more than tennis, however. It's Ralleyball, the Red division USA Team Tennis format for ages 12 and under that is a twist on tennis for kids and a hit with everyone. (Kids advance from the Red division to the White division and, finally, the Blue division as they mature and their skills improve.)

Kids love the Ralleyball format because they don't have to be particularly athletic, they participate on teams and they achieve success simply by hitting the ball over the net. They don't have to serve or keep score the standard way.

Parents love the Ralleyball format of USA Team Tennis because it's an inexpensive organized activity their children truly enjoy. Park & Recreation administrators love it because it keeps their courts in use and does not require skilled staff.

"This is it, for kids," says Frueh, who manages Bismarck Parks' Capital Racquet & Fitness Center. "It's ingenious!"

Ingenious, perhaps, but so simple it's hard to believe no one thought of tennis this way before club owner Julie Mastromarino of Reading, Pa., developed the Ralleyball format five years ago. "It's simple for mainstream masses of people to understand," she says.

With a lot of help from the Ralleyball format, the USTA has been successful in converting new youth tennis players into regular players. In 1999, many of the youth who enrolled in the beginner program USA Tennis 1-2-3 moved on to USA Team Tennis.

In a rather unusual twist, USA Team Tennis and the Ralleyball format actually helped Frueh and the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District receive USTA funding under the USA Tennis Plan for Growth. In most instances, community tennis groups unite, submit a grant proposal and then, after receiving funding, implement the USA Tennis program pathway, which begins with USA Tennis 1-2-3, proceeds with USA Team Tennis, and continues on to USA Tournament Tennis.

The burgeoning Bismarck tennis community got a jump on Ralleyball in fall 1998 when it served as a test market for the program. In the first year, Frueh says, 146 first- through sixth-graders participated. "Usually with kids that age," Frueh said, "we might have 20 to 30. I was shocked by the response to it.

"... Now we're getting the athletes. They're quitting hockey. They're quitting basketball. They're looking to tennis."

Industry statistics show tennis is currently a boom sport. Along with soccer, it was one of the few sports to show growth in 1999. Many factors have contributed to tennis's cache, including the stirring success of American players Andre Agassi, Lindsay Davenport, and Serena Williams. The USA Tennis Plan for Growth, with its goal of 800,000 new players and one million additional frequent players, is also a factor.

"The whole (USA Tennis) Plan for Growth and the money the USTA is putting into tennis is a big factor," Frueh says. "But we started Ralleyball before we started getting funding for that."

Frueh says he actually used a portion of the funding to purchase more electronic scoreboards to use courtside during USA Team Tennis. The success of this program has him cautiously optimistic that Bismarck might someday produce a nationally-ranked prodigy.

"That would be nice," he says. "We haven't had much of that before. We've had some kids go on to (NCAA) Division I schools.

"But I'm looking at this from a parks & recreation standpoint. Things are catered to the grassroots level. You start at the lower levels and build up."

Frueh's summer tennis program is up to about 400 kids. In a community of 50,000, he knows that's pretty good. Other sports draw large numbers of participants too, but that's not the point.

"The tennis courts are being used again," Frueh says.

The courtside clock is reset. Next!

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Andre Christopher is senior writer for the United States Tennis Association.