New York Junior Tennis and Learning

NYJTL is a tennis-themed nonprofit organization offering comprehensive school- and community-based out-of-school time programs to youth 6-18 years of age throughout New York City. We are among 500 chapters of a national organization started by Arthur Ashe to give inner-city youth a chance to learn the game of tennis and provide them with experiences they normally would not get otherwise. NYJTL is the largest of the chapters, and we offer a safe and nurturing environment in a school setting where youth can participate in different sporting activities, especially tennis, and thrive in an academically supportive environment to help them reach their maximum potential. NYJTL operates its programs in elementary and middle-schools throughout New York City.

Arthur Ashe founded the National Junior Tennis League in 1969 with Charlie Pasarell, Ashe’s teammate at UCLA who devoted his life to building the game of tennis, and with Sheridan Snyder, a biotech entrepreneur with a passion for tennis. Ashe, to this day the only African American male player to have won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, was committed not only to tennis but also to ensuring education and equity for all.

New York Junior Tennis League was founded in 1971 by Ashe and by Founder and Chairman Emeritus Lewis “Skip” Hartman with the help of Gene Scott, Bill Shelton, and Erich Werner. In 2013, the U.S. Tennis Association honored Skip with its National Junior Tennis and Learning Founders’ Service Award for 40 years of tireless efforts to grow junior tennis programs in NYC and around the country.