May 30, 2001

Tennis camps serve up success stories

Grand Traverse Tennis Camps celebrates 25 years of play

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       Growing up, Kate MacIntosh and her two older sisters spent their summers playing tennis at the Grand Traverse Tennis Camps, one year garnering Tennis Family of the Year honors. This summer, MacIntosh will return to the court as a camp instructor, sharing what she has learned about the game in the past decade with the next crop of tennis stars.
      A graduating senior at Traverse City Central High School, MacIntosh blazed a winning tennis career on the Central Girls' Tennis team, including a school record of 154 wins, three-time Conference and Regional champ and being named an All-State player.
      Besides being a naturally gifted athlete, including playing varsity volleyball and soccer, MacIntosh credits her family with igniting her interest in tennis: her father and uncle started her and her two older sisters playing the game. The three girls honed their winning skills every summer at the Grand Traverse Tennis Camp, participating in the eight-week program and as many tournaments as possible.
      "When I was about eight, I started in the tennis program and I competed in a lot of the tournaments and the Cherry Festival Open," recalled MacIntosh, who played on Central's varsity tennis team for four years. "It really got me into a lot of competition at so many different levels. With the wide variety of coaches, I really learned a lot."
      Success stories like the MacIntosh one are easy to find among kids who have spent their summer at tennis camp.
      In 25 years, the camps have served nearly 10,000 youth and adults, offering programs for children as young as four and adults of all ages. This year organizers expect more than 500 participants from around the region, with 350 taking lessons.
      "This has been a real grass roots effort," said Larry Nykerk, founder and director of the Grand Traverse Tennis Camp. "We also have out of town people who are here for the summer come in and kids from all the area schools."
      No one envisioned this success in 1976, when the Grand Traverse Tennis Camp began with 100 students as a weekly tournament. The camp started when National Bank and Trust was looking for a sports event to sponsor. Lee Hughes, then a vice president of the bank, contacted Larry Nykerk, coach of Traverse City Senior High's tennis teams to suggest a tennis event.
      "Everyone in town used to sponsor Little League and baseball teams and I wanted to do something in the tennis community," said Hughes, a lifelong tennis player. "Tennis has always been a real hot bed here in Traverse City and I thought tennis camp was a real important thing to do."
      Nykerk quickly organized the camp and found instructors. Each week, camp pairings and results were posted in the bank's lobby. Nykerk recalls tracking stats and players' progress using an Apple IIE computer, enlisting his own kids to help him.
      By 1982, the Grand Traverse Tennis Camp was a Traverse City summer tradition and adult lessons and tournaments were added to meet the growing demand. Even when National Bank and Trust folded and ended their sponsorship, other companies stepped in and the camp continued.
      The camp has exceeded Nykerk's dream of building a tennis feeder program in Traverse City, an idea he had been kicking around even before Hughes' call. Just as he envisioned, many of the players in the camp over the decades went on to play high school tennis, like the three MacIntosh sisters. Coming to the camp every summer for eight weeks allowed them to develop their skills and love of the game.
      "Many kids who started in this program kept playing," said Nykerk, director of the Grand Traverse Tennis Camps. "So many of those kids who were on the [high school] team were player of the week at camp and had their picture in the newspaper. That was a huge motivation for them."
      Hughes is also pleased that tennis camps have grown and flourished.
      "Twenty-five years is a long time and I am surprised at it, though of course Larry and his staff have done such a great job of promoting it," Hughes said. "When I dropped off my grandkids last year, Larry gave me a shirt, he said I had to have one."