The 2012 Summer Program

Program Details:

Sessions offered:

8:15 - 8:55 a.m.	- 5 & 6 year olds
9:00 - 9:55 a.m.	- 7 & 8 year olds
10:00 - 10:55 a.m.	- 9 - 12 year olds (beginner)
11:00 - 11:55 a.m.	- 9 - 12 year olds (intermediate)
12:00 - 12:55 p.m.	- 13 & up (beginner & intermediate)
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.	- Jr. Team Tennis for JV and Varsity players (limited sites)

• Class sizes will be limited
• Students are grouped by age and ability
• Due to overcrowding at some sites, priority will be given to those families in closest proximity to the courts.  Click here to see a map of 2012 site locations.
• One-hour of tennis and life-skill training: The SPUT Summer Tennis Program is unique in that it doesn't take the typical approach to teaching tennis. In a typical program, students stand in lines and wait their turn to hit a tennis ball, while the instructors try to teach them the basic strokes of tennis. In the SPUT program, your children will actually play and compete in the game of tennis, which not only makes the program more fun, but also teaches important life-skills along the way.

If you want more details about our QuickStart tennis philosophy click here.  For more detail on our life-skills component, click here.

2012 site locations

How To Prepare For The First Day of The Program

In this section you will learn everything you need to know on day one of the program, including what to bring, what to wear, what to expect...and what we expect from you!

What Makes The SPUT Program So Unique?

The Saint Paul Urban Tennis Program was created to give the children (especially those of different race and low-economic conditions) in Saint Paul a chance to experience tennis, character development (life-skills) and mentoring. Each and every day these "tennis and life" lessons introduce kids to a healthy, life-long activity, along with important life-skills.

The 5 Key and Unique Components of SPUT

1. The summer program is delivered "in the neighborhoods"

One of the most important components of the program and a big reason for its past success is that the summer program is delivered right to where the kids live. Much of the population that SPUT serves is in low income neighborhoods, meaning the parents are not home to shuttle the kids around during the day.

Because of SPUT's long-time relationship with the City of Saint Paul, 33 tennis court sites are used to deliver the core summer program. Over 80% of the kids who play tennis in Saint Paul each summer either walk or ride their bikes to their summer "tennis and life" lessons.

Another 22 "non-tennis court" sites were selected in 2010 to deliver tennis to an additional 1,400 low-income kids. (See out-reach program below)

2. Life Skills are taught every day

One of the most unique and important additions to the "tennis lessons," is the exposure of every child to our character development and life-skills training program during each and every weekly session. In 2010 the Life-Skills Curriculum was redesigned and updated.

The delivery of the life-skills was woven into each lesson through story telling. This method of delivery was much more engaging for the students and more importantly, telling the story was much easier for the instructors as well. Because of this, the students, staff and families were much more engages with the life-skills piece of the program. Nutritional components were also added in 2010, if you would like a detailed explanation of the Life-skills training curriculum click here: www.sput.us/life-skills-training.php

3. The QuickStart tennis philosophy

The Saint Paul Urban Tennis Program utilizes the QuickStart Tennis format that was developed by the United State Tennis Association. QuickStart takes a new and better approach to introducing kids to the game. Balls are lower in compression; they bounce lower and don't move as fast so they are easier to hit.

Racquets are sized for small hands, and the courts are smaller and easier to cover--all that equals more fun, less frustration, and more "playing time" instead of waiting in lines. What this all means is that kids of all ages get a chance to actually play and compete in games of real tennis. For a detailed explanation of The QuickStart Program click here: www.sput.us/quickstart-tennis.php

On the court, "match play" is the focus--Many of the life skills discussed each day were greatly enhanced when discussed in terms of competition. Tennis was the physical vehicle that was used to promote these lessons. Winning gracefully, losing with integrity, never giving up and being a teammate who makes the rest of the team better were all topics that were discussed with the kids. We moved away from the kids standing in lines and hitting balls during their lessons -- and moved them quickly into "playing" the game, keeping score and having run doing it!

4. The Outreach Program

In 2010 we created an "Outreach Program that focused on bringing our "tennis and life" program to low cost housing areas in Saint Paul A large majority of the tenants in these projects are non-Caucasian, primarily African-American, Hispanic, Hmong, Somali and Vietnamese. The SPUT program was delivered to 22 "non-tennis court sites where an additional 1,400 children were introduced to the SPUT Program

5. The leadership-mentoring program

In 2010, sixty-one percent of SPUT instructors were once participants in the program. This is important because these instructors become role models for the young kids in the program. They grew up in the same neighborhoods and attended the same schools. The instructors know the challenges these kids face, and in addition to providing tennis instruction, they also provide valuable leadership. For a full description of the leadership/mentoring program click here: www.SPUT.com/mentor.php