Why this program?
My name is Callie Shroff and I am the Founder and President of Summit Serves.
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The summer after my freshman year of high school I attended a tennis service trip to a hurricane-stricken island in the Caribbean.
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During the trip we visited all of the elementary schools on the island and gave the students an introduction to tennis. The kids LOVED it! Most of them had never touched a tennis racquet before (and some of them had never met someone who wasn’t from their island!) It was incredibly fulfilling to be able to introduce these children to a sport that holds such a big place in my heart. It was an experience I will never forget.
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When I came back home to Summit I realized that our economically diverse town would benefit from a similar program. I decided to create Summit Serves to provide lower-income children in the Summit community with the opportunity to learn tennis in a way that not only gives them new skills and valuable exercise, but also helps them build confidence. I hope this program continues to foster connections that may not otherwise occur, and bring joy to both the teen coaches and the participating kids.
What We Do
Each of our sessions are broken into 3 main sections:
1. 10 minutes of warm-up exercises
2. 40 minutes of rotating stations, for example:
- basic strokes (forehands/backhands/volleys/serves)
- speed & agility (relay races are a favorite :) )
3. 10 minutes of a player-run stretch circle
- everyone gets a chance to lead a stretch in the center of the circle (builds public speaking confidence!)
We want the players come out of the program with stronger tennis skills, however, our focus is always on fun and supporting each other.
We do our best to adjust each session based on the ages and skill/interest level of the kids that show up that day.