One of the main reasons the Club at Harper's Point has been so successful for over 30 years is its…read morejunior tennis program and the summer camps it offers. Steve Contardi opened the club in the 70s and now the name "Contardi" is synonymous with great summer camps.
Eight camps make up the list of Contardi Summer Tennis Camps offered, which range in ability.
For younger and/or less experienced players there is Fun Camp (not highly concentrated on tennis), Mini Camp (a.k.a. "Pee Wee"), "Munchkins Camp" for Mini Camp graduates, and Teenage Novice Camp. There is also a Girls Jr. High & High School Team Tune-Up for girls looking to make their school teams in August. Of these, the "Munchkins" is the only that last the entire summer, June 2-August. 15. The three other camps are the Junior Camp, Junior Tournament Go Camp, and the Invitational Elite Training Camp, which also run all summer.
Junior Camp is the most popular and is run by Ali Ismail, the Head Pro at Harper's. The camp runs from 9-4 and is open to boys and girls of all abilities between the ages of 7-17. It includes lunch break (Subway, Pizza, etc.) and an outdoor break/optional swim time. Mondays are strictly tennis drills, as are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Following lunch, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are spent playing "Davis Cup," in which the counselors select campers to be on their team, or "country," where they will compete in the camp-wide team competition consisting of singles and doubles matches (the winning team gets camp t-shirts). Flight A and B double-elimination format singles tournaments are held on Fridays. Winners and runners-up in both flights, main draw and consolation, receive trophies, as do the "Charlie Hustle" and "Most Improved" campers each week. The next week, the fun starts all over again.
Go Camp is by invitation only and is typically for budding tournament-level players who often have "graduated" from Junior Camp. It is a half day camp and is geared towards taking players to the next level through a series of drills, some of which can be very fun. Fridays consist of Go Camp's version of "Davis Cup," pitting half the players against the other half in a competitive, but fun day of tennis.
The Elite Camp is simply a continuation of the Fall, Winter, and Spring tennis program for the club's top juniors. It is not a camp in the sense that there are games and fun drills, rather it is a place for the top junior players to better their games and prepare for summer tournaments (hard and clay) and hopefully for college tennis. This "camp" is by invitation only as well and is typically for sectionally ranked players.
The Contardi Summer Tennis Camps are for all players and abilities and continue to run successfully each summer. If you have a kid who enjoys tennis, you definitely should sign them up for one of the camps at the Club at Harper's Point.