USTA RECOGNIZES DANBURY GRASSROOTS ACADEMY WITH ITS NJTL CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD 

 

 

Danbury Group Receives National Award for its Work in Enhancing Lives Through Tennis and Education  

 

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Sept. 6, 2019 – The USTA today announced that National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) chapter Danbury Grassroots Academy (DGA) of Danbury, Conn., has been honored with its NJTL Chapter of the Year Award. DGA was awarded at the USTA Semiannual Meeting and Conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Sept. 2. 

 

Since 2006, DGA has offered the local community a free, year round program serving 55-60 under-served kids from ages 8 to 18. The program runs out of a 2,500 square foot Main Street office on Danbury’s public tennis courts at Rogers Park. Since its inception, DGA has been improving the lives of promising students from the Danbury community, by emphasizing in education, character building, tennis and health. ADVERTISEMENT Their four primary goals are: to stress the critical importance of education; to provide the tools necessary to develop honorable character traits; to teach the basics of tennis; and to emphasize the value of nutrition and exercise. 

 

“We are proud to honor the important work being done at Danbury Grassroots Academy,” said Craig Morris, Chief Executive, Community Tennis, USTA. “DGA’s work and their commitment to delivering programs that emphasize in tennis and education is truly empowering children and helping them reach their full potential.”

 

The USTA bestows the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) Chapter of the Year Award to chapters that positively impact youth through the powerful combination of tennis and education. Founded in 1969 by Arthur Ashe, along with Charlie Pasarell and Sheridan Snyder, the NJTL network is a nationwide group of more than 300 nonprofit youth development organizations. Supported by the USTA Foundation through financial grants, scholarship opportunities, curricula, technical assistance and training, the NJTL network provides free or low-cost tennis and education programming to more than 180,000 under-resourced youth nationwide.

 

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The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 655,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network. For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.