USA Tennis 1-2-3 Has Nashville Community Singing New Tune.

Together, Hadley Park Junior Development NJTL (National Junior Tennis League) and the USA Tennis 1-2-3 program are reshaping tennis in the Nashville inner city.

"The USA Tennis 1-2-3 program has accumulated more than 4,800 kids here in the city," says Joe Goldthreate, who runs Hadley Park Tennis Club and has become almost a Johnny Appleseed of public-park tennis in Nashville. "The first year, we only had 600 kids. Then we came up with a new program taking tennis to the inner city.

"We contacted Head Start. We contacted all the YMCAs, the daycare centers, and the churches. We did the programs at their sites.... We couldn't do that without USA Tennis 1-2-3."

The USA Tennis 1-2-3 program, which teaches basic tennis skills in just six sessions, is only two years old. The 700 percent growth in participation that Goldthreate talks about outpaces national growth, which has been incredible, by almost double initial projections.

Because of his success in attracting kids to tennis, Goldthreate and the members of Hadley Park NJTL were asked by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to participate in the national launch of USA Tennis Month in May at Nashville's Legislative Plaza. On June 14, Hadley Park Tennis Club was scheduled to begin a five-day celebration of the dedication of a tennis bubble the city purchased so the park can operate as an indoor/outdoor facility.

"Joe's program does tremendous work for the city of Nashville," says Ron Huff, director of tennis at Nashville's Centennial Sportsplex, which held special clinics for the USA Tennis Month launch. "[Hadley Park Tennis Club] is a good community tennis center."

What Goldthreate has done in taking the USA Tennis 1-2-3 program to the people throughout the community is consistent with what NJTL was intended to accomplish when it was first established by Arthur Ashe, Charlie Pasarell, and Sheridan Snyder in 1969. NJTL was meant to be a free or low-cost program that emphasized citizenship and education, while introducing boys and girls to tennis. USA Tennis 1-2-3 is an ideal fit for enhancing that mission, particularly in public parks.

"NJTL and parks sort of grew up together," says Ron Woods, director of the USA Tennis Plan for Growth. "Public parks were where you could do the program."

Goldthreate says kids play for free at Hadley Park, as long as he is able to continue securing grant funding. For Hadley Park NJTL, operating as a not-for-profit organization (as all NJTL chapters are), he has been a master thus far, securing USTA, HUD, and local housing authority grants, among others.

"All kids want to play tennis," Goldthreate says, "but they can't afford to play. They see it on TV, they go back there in the barn, and they hit up against a wall. It's not the same.

"When you go into an inner city area or a suburban area with brand new Wilson or Penn balls, with some new racquets, with some teaching pros ... they want to learn."

Goldthreate says he has 32 junior workers, 17 teaching pros, three secretaries, and two counselors helping him spread tennis to a total of 34 parks throughout middle Tennessee.

"It's hard for people to understand that we can go into an area where they are shooting, gambling, and stealing," he says. "Discipline through tennis is what we offer. We go in there and meet people like the owner of Jake's barber shop or Sister Mary at Sylvan Street Baptist Church. Those people lead us in. They say, `Hey, we want that program.'"

And as his participation figures show, Goldthreate delivers.

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

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