In 1969, the National Junior Tennis League was created as a way to gain and hold the attention of young people, with the hope of teaching them the importance of character, getting an education and becoming productive citizens.
Today, the now-named National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network features more than 250 nonprofit youth development organizations that offer free or low-cost tennis and education programming to over 160,000 under-resourced youth each year.
NJTL is supported by the USTA Foundation, the national charitable organization of the USTA. The work done by its member chapters includes after-school tutoring that focuses on academic enrichment, a life-skills curriculum and, of course, tennis.
Vermont has one NJTL, Bennington ACES. Bennington ACES, created in 2016, is dedicated to providing tennis, fitness, nutrition, learning and academic support for Bennington area underserved youth. Through its partnership with local schools, Bennington ACES offers high quality, age-specific tennis instruction; academic tutoring; and in-depth nutrition programming.
Executive Director, Sandy Foster brings outstanding education experience to develop interactive, academic enrichment and nutrition instruction to challenge and engage our underserved youth. It is held at the Bennington Tennis Center in the winter and Bennington College in the summer. The program has completed over 1700 hours of programming annually to participants from local area schools, offering instruction five times per week including a tennis and enrichment program at a six-week full day summer program held at Bennington College.
The program credits its growth to the overwhelming support of the community and strong partnerships with Bennington College and local area elementary schools.
