Visible Results
Well into its third year of existence, the same six men are still a part of the now-successful S.C.O.R.E. program. One of the men involved is 26-year-old Ryan. The youngest of the group, Ryan has severe autism. He shows up every Sunday to the tennis club with a solemn face. His hands are always in his pockets, his shoulders hunched. His gaze falls on the floor beneath him, and he offers quiet, short answers. “I’m always so happy if I can get a sentence out of him,” Matt said. “You can imagine how hard it was to get Ryan to participate.” But Matt and Mark plugged away, week after week.
At first the group would just play games like duck, duck, goose. Slowly, they tried tennis drills with the men. “Once they got to know myself and Mark, they started participating more, and wanted to come back and play and hold a racquet.”
Now, says Matt, Ryan is one of the best players in the group. “At this point he’s consistently hitting 100 balls from the baseline. That’s just great progression.”
Then there’s Bryan. Half his body is paralyzed, keeping him from forming words and leaving him with only one usable hand. But Bryan loves meeting every Sunday, proudly sporting his own racquet. “Because he can only use one hand, he can’t move very far back. When we first started, he’d get maybe one out of every 50 balls we threw to him. But over the last couple of sessions, he hasn’t missed a ball throughout the entire hour,” Matt said. Still another participant never even holds a racquet. “We spent one and a half years trying to get him to hold a racquet, but he still refuses to this day.”
Wise beyond his years, Matt understands that the men take much more away from the experience than simply making contact with a tennis ball. They get out of the home, interact with people they might never normally meet, and get exercise moving around on the court, whether they know it or not.
“The man who won’t pick up a racquet, he guards the basket of balls like it’s his baby. No one is allowed to take any of the balls out of the cart; he has to hand them to us. And he loves that. He comes back every week just so he can do that, and he’s so happy doing it,” explained Matt.
Seeing other people benefit in such a positive manner is all the motivation Matt needs to keep the program going. “These men are such great people, so kind and loving. They’re fun, and great to be around. I’m honored to consider these people friends and that I can spend an hour a week with them,” he said.
That’s not to say he hasn't encountered obstacles, the biggest being a lack of people to help run the program. Over the first year and a half, Matt and Mark ran the program by themselves. While it was very rewarding, the ratio of two on six became difficult to manage. “Mark and I try to alternate which player we work with each week so no one feels left out,” Matt said. This method meant they were often spreading themselves thin, whereas their goal was to offer the players the most personal attention possible.
Although they knew how rewarding their work was, they still had difficulty soliciting help from other students. “When I mentioned the program to people, at lot of them were apprehensive about helping out. Most of them have never worked with mentally handicapped people before, and therefore didn’t know what to expect.”
He isn’t judgmental, though. In fact, Matt flat out admits he felt the same way in the beginning. “I was very apprehensive and a little nervous and scared to communicate with them. I didn’t know what to say, what to do around them, how to talk to them,” he said. “I learned that you should just talk to them like they’re friends of yours. The only difference is that, instead of them starting a conversation with you, it’s always you initiating. Once you do that, they’re more than happy to carry on a conversation.”
The group’s hottest topics usually revolve around any upcoming holiday, such as what they’re wearing for Halloween and where they’re going for Christmas. “A lot of the time on the court is spent just being their friend, talking about whatever’s on their mind.”
A Team Player
There have been many great moments for Matt over the last three years, but one stands out in his mind the most. Ryan, the autistic man who barely speaks, gave Matt what is probably the single most powerful memory of his life.
“Not too long ago Ryan and I were hitting when all of a sudden he took his other hand out of his pocket to wipe his forehead. There he was, both hands out, swinging and hitting, and we were rallying back and forth. Then all of a sudden he smiled. In two and a half years, Ryan never once smiled,” Matt said.
Clearly emotional even thinking about this, he continued, “His whole face lit up, and the smile didn’t disappear for the rest of the hour. It’s only happened one or two more times since. Obviously the program really affected him, but it really affected me, too. That’s the memory that comes to mind every time I think of this program.”
Now that S.C.O.R.E. is three years running, Matt no longer has a problem getting his peers involved. With college just around the corner, this is vital to the program’s continuation. Luckily, Mark willingly volunteered to run the program next year, and even found a freshman at a nearby high school to hand the reins to once he graduates.
As for Matt, he doesn’t know exactly where he’ll be in a year. He just sent applications to ten colleges, and is now anxiously awaiting responses. On the list: M.I.T. and Stanford. No surprise there considering those are the very schools his brothers attended. “It’s nerve-racking. I just want to get the waiting over and find out,” he said.
While he’s basing his decision on academics, math or business being the choice majors, he hasn’t discounted the idea of trying out for the school’s tennis team, wherever he ends up. If for some reason that doesn’t happen, Matt is open to trying something new, like Ultimate Frisbee. But one way or another, he'll always be a tennis player at heart. “Tennis is definitely something I’ll stick with forever, carry with me forever. It’s a life sport,” he said.
But first he has to complete his final year of high school, and what will hopefully be his most impressive tennis season yet. With three talented freshmen joining the team, Matt isn’t sure he will maintain his No. 1 singles place on the team, but this doesn’t even faze him. He sees the big picture. “If a freshman is better than me, then he deserves to play the position. I’d be happy knowing the team is better off with the strongest player in the highest position. I’d just give the kid a hard time,” he joked.
Coach Clark made no secret of the fact that Matt will be missed. “For a coach to have a young man like this who is mature beyond his years is truly a blessing. It will be a tremendous loss for me and the tennis program when he leaves,” she said.
She added, “For a high school student to juggle all of these responsibilities, giving so much to each, and still walking around with a big smile and a kind word is truly incredible. But he isn’t just any high school student. He is Matt Levine, a person who shows a genuine understanding of the human experience and what it means to have an open heart. He is truly terrific!”
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