New York ‘street tennis’ concept gets Danish launch

The first sets of a New York City-inspired concept aimed at getting children to play tennis outside the court are about to be played in Copenhagen.

Published: 18 August 2017 13:22 CEST

New York 'street tennis' concept gets Danish launch

Photo: Super Duper Tennis

By teaching in an educational, safe and exciting environment the Super Duper Tennis concept enhances kids' self-esteem, tennis skills and overall love for the game, says the team bringing it across the Atlantic.

“The goal is to ensure they love and learn the game by making it fun and exciting with games-based exercises and memorable relatable teaching methods, and instil confidence and comfort by teaching on sized-down courts,” Zani Suttle, founder and managing director of Super Duper Tennis, told The Local via email.

The New York City-born kids tennis programme, which boasts classes in various locations in New York, New Jersey and Florida, will launch its first international branch in Copenhagen on August 19th.

Repositioning Tennis to youngsters as a team sport, the scheme teaches the fundamentals of tennis to groups of children aged 3-10 years.

One of the core elements of the concept – thinking outside the tennis court – makes it accessible anywhere and everywhere in various unconventional locations, including gymnasiums, turf fields, basketball courts, says Suttle, a former tennis junior competitor.

“The fundamentals of tennis can be learned and played anywhere. I started playing at the age of four and went on to play nationally in the juniors in the States and received a full scholarship to Syracuse University in New York. I started out hitting on the walls in our car garage, volleying with my dad in our grass lawn and finding walls to hit against in the grocery store parking lot,” Suttle said.

Photo: Super Duper Tennis

Classes are grouped by age and skill level in low child-to-coach ratio settings to ensure individualised attention, quality playing time and good fun.

Suttle told The Local that she saw tennis as a sport that encouraged a feeling of community – making it prime for a grass roots-level boost in Denmark.

“Copenhagen is ripe for the Super Duper Tennis concept because it's such a great place for families – ‘a family that plays together stays together’. Tennis is undoubtedly a sport in high demand here, people are always looking to learn the game and tennis is a sport that can keep us together.

“Our goal is to make tennis more accessible by finding safe and exciting environments for kids to get their foot into the game and bringing families and communities together through the sport,” she wrote.

The launch of Super Duper Tennis in Copenhagen takes place on Saturday August 19th at Copenhagen’s Carlsberg Byen, where kids can play street tennis on sized-down courts with equipment fit for them – smaller racquets, balls that bounce at their height and lowered nets – all set up in a unique and unconventional portable court setting.

The programme of paid classes starts on Wednesday, August 23rd at Carlsberg Byen, switching to an indoor location once colder weather sets in.

More details can be found on the programme’s website.

Bonuses on the new “CopenPay” scheme include a kayak or boat tour, a vegetarian meal, a museum ticket, or an e-bicycle ride — free of charge.

Why does the city want to give away these freebies?

“It is a core task for us to make travelling sustainable. And we will only succeed if we bridge the large gap between the visitors’ desire to act sustainably and their actual behaviour”, tourism board CEO Mikkel Aaro-Hansen said.

The public’s reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive”, although some disappointed visitors “would have liked the scheme to be in place during their stay,” Copenhagen tourism office communications director Rikke Holm Petersen told news agency AFP.

Although the tourist board says it wants the scheme to change behaviour to a more eco-friendly approach, it admits the initiative alone cannot dent the environmental impact of tourism.

More than 100,000 passengers flew into Copenhagen in June, resulting in a much higher carbon footprint than bus or train travel, according to airport data.

“The environmental burden of transportation to and from Copenhagen is much more significant than that of local transportation,” said tourism website VisitCopenhagen.

“We have chosen to limit our advertising efforts to Copenhagen Airport, the central station, and within the city itself, rather than conducting marketing campaigns abroad,” Petersen said.

The tourism office will consider extending the scheme beyond the city — perhaps even abroad — if it proves successful.

“We hope to reintroduce CopenPay as a year-round, green payment experience within the economy and broaden the concept to other parts of Denmark and the rest of the world,” according to the VisitCopenhagen site.