Students Pick Up Rackets, Not Phones

William Bello, Dionisio Salas, and Aiden Sanford took their first swings on a tennis court Monday morning — as the King/Robinson middle schoolers joined dozens of their classmates on an Edgewood Park excursion designed to get them outside in the sun, away from screens, and learning the basics of what to many was a new sport.

Bello, 11, Salas, 12, and Sanford, 12, were three of more than 50 fifth- and sixth-grade students from the Newhallville public school to take a bus to the Edgewood Park tennis courts at around 10 a.m. Monday for a two-hour lesson courtesy of United States Tennis Association (USTA) New England Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Mavi Sanchez-Skakle and her husband, former tennis pro Cliff Skakle.

The trip was organized in part by Mia Duff, a retired New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) principal who now works as a reading tutor at King/Robinson. Duff helped put together Monday’s event as part of a day of service organized alongside fellow members of the Iota Chi Sigma Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated.

As Duff put it, Monday’s outing was all about enjoying the outdoors and learning something new. ​“I see the need for experiences to get out in the fresh air and sunshine,” she said. Young people spend ​“too much time in front of screens” as it is. Here was an opportunity — during National Tennis Month — to put down the phone, pick up a racket, exercise and have fun.

Which is exactly what took place for the subsequent two-hour lesson.

Sanchez-Skakle and Skakle took the leads in introducing the students to the sport, advising them on how to move their feet towards the ball and to ​“touch,” rather than ​“hit,” the ball with the racket. (“A swing is all about letting the weight be a pendulum,” Skakle said.)

Students like Peyton Jackson, 11, and Bello paired up, stood about 10 feet apart, and, with one student holding a racket, practiced rolling and then tossing a tennis ball back and forth.

While Bello was taking his first tennis-racket swings ever, Jackson was a relative pro. She’s been playing for five months, and even brought her own racket Monday. ​“I like backhands” the best, she said. ​“Because I’m still learning” how to do them. Her other favorite parts of tennis? ​“I love being able to play with others,” and, of course, ​“learning new things.”

Sanford, like Bello, was brand new to the sport. He’d only played football before, and was looking forward to learning something new. ​“I’ve never played tennis in my life,” he said. ​“I want to see if I like it.”

Sanchez-Skakle singled out Salas and Milad Noorbadshah, 12, for praise, as they had walked up to her after the initial exercise was done and, calmly, without shouting or swinging their rackets to and fro, told her that they had finished and were ready for the next. Sanchez-Skakle led the students in a round of applause.

Salas said this, too, was his first time ever playing tennis. Noorbadshah, meanwhile, has been playing for two or three years. Noorbadshah’s favorite part? ​“Hitting the ball.” Salas’s assessment so far: ​“It’s fun.”