Summer is the time when many children head out to the tennis courts to learn the game. The Chronicle decided to find out what’s Jewish about local tennis. Plenty, it turns out.
One of the most popular places to learn the game is Paley Tennis Center, which is owned by Jewish brothers Andy, Bobby and Jimmy Paley. The center offers lessons on their indoor courts for all levels — from beginners to players who are ranked in the state and beyond.
They also operate Paley Tennis Camp, an overnight camp that’s held at the Daniel M. Soref Education and Retreat Center in Fredonia, which happens to be the home of the Albert & Ann Deshur JCC Rainbow Day Camp.
For three weeks each summer, kids from middle school and high school come from all over the country to improve their game. The camp has gained worldwide attention. This summer, 14 of Spain’s best young players and four of their coaches will attend camp.
The Spanish players, who typically play on red clay, get an opportunity to play indoor tennis, which is a must faster game. “The kids get to exchange ideas, train together and learn about other cultures,” according to Jimmy Paley.
For the Milwaukee kids, he added, “you get to experience another culture without having to travel far from home.”
While some Jewish tennis players will be honing their skills at Paley Tennis camp, others will be competing in JCC Maccabi Games. In this five-day athletic competition, athletes from around the world will compete in team and individual sports including tennis.
Both Riley Strauss and Ali Pollack train at Paley Tennis Center and both found a way to turn their love of the sport into an expression of tzedakah by hosting tennis tournament fundraisers for their bat mitzvah projects.
Ali’s fundraiser, which was located on the courts at Homestead High School in Mequon, raised money for Locks for Love. She also donated her hair three times for the cause. “It’s important to help people with cancer feel good about what they look like,” Ali said.
Riley raised money for an animal hospital in Grafton, where her dog was treated for an auto-immune disease. “We would always see people putting down cats and dogs because they couldn’t afford the treatments to keep them alive. That was heartbreaking to me,” Riley said. She raised more than $2,000 to help pet-owners pay for treatment that they otherwise would have been unable to afford.
Crediting her tennis coaches, Riley links the sport to her becoming more involved in the Jewish community. “The constant encouragement from Andy and Jimmy has carried on to my involvement in BBYO. I’ve learned how to participate and how to be a leader in making a stronger Jewish community.”
Many Jewish families value the traditions that pass from generation to generation (l’dor v’dor). Apparently, learning to play tennis is one of those traditions.
Ali, Riley and of course the Paleys come from tennis-playing families. Riley calls it “a generational thing. A lot of people in my family have played including my grandfather, uncle, both parents and my brother.”
Julian Lowe is a sophomore at Nicolet High School and plays on the varsity tennis team. (At least half of the team is Jewish.)
His mother, Pip Lowe, said, “We lived and breathed tennis in my house when I was growing up. Both of my parents and my brother and I all played.”
Her brother, Jon Powell, ranked number two in the nation for doubles when he was in high school and won a scholarship to play college tennis.
The Torah tells us that Jews are made in the image of God (b’tzelem Elokim). This idea inspires many Jews to do their personal best. While tennis players may not have b’tzelem Elokim in mind when they are returning a serve, they are great examples of the concept.
Coach Jimmy sees himself as not only teaching a sport but also teaching character. “Tennis can build self-confidence because it’s an individual sport,” he said. “So when you achieve new goals, you are directly responsible for achieving them.”
The inverse is also true. “You learn to deal with adversity because you can’t pass the blame to someone else,” he said. “You move on and get past it to achieve your goal.”
Ali says that tennis has taught her how to manage her time and stay focused. “I need to separate my time and focus on what I need to focus on in the moment – either tennis or school. To be successful, you have to go all out during the week and then relax on the weekend.”
Her mom, Marina Melberg, calls tennis “life training.” She said, “It teaches you to think quickly and make decisions on the spot.” Because it’s an individual sport, “you really have to focus yourself and control the technical, strategic, mental and emotional” aspects of your game.
Striving to do her personal best has paid off for Ali, a junior at University School of Milwaukee. She began taking tennis lessons when she was 7 years old. By the time she turned 10, she had given up other activities like dance to focus on tennis.
Now she is ranked number one in Wisconsin, number 6 in the Great Lakes Region and number 58 in the nation for high school juniors according to TennisRecruiting.net, a site that ranks students who aspire to playing college tennis.
Ali expects to sign a national letter of intent to commit to playing for a college, but she hasn’t yet decided which school she will choose.
So the next time you hit the courts, remember that you are expressing your Jewish values, one stroke at a time.
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