Love: Tutoring Tots in Teddy Tennis

Be brave, reach out and catch the ball. Walk like a crab. Move to the music.

Those are just some of the lessons taught at Patty Ouellette's Teddy Tennis clinics, where the game is about more than hitting balls with a racquet.

"We teach them to walk like a crab," said Ouellette, owner of a Teddy Tennis franchise based at 365 Fitness in the township. "They learn how to walk without crossing their feet."

The crab-like walk is one of the movement skills included in the multi-level instructional tennis program that Ouellette, who formerly coached  tennis teams, is offering to area pre-schoolers.

The retired social studies teacher and guidance counselor also teaches the children, many of whom initially fear the spongy, rubber foam ball as it comes their way, the courage and skill to catch it.

A New Jersey Hall of Fame coach, she and other instructors known as "Head Teds" incorporate motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and music into the 50-minute tennis lessons targeted to the three-to-five-year-olds.

After departing from her 35-year career in both of the district's high schools, Ouellette has switched gears from teaching teens to teaching tots in the franchise she opened in May at the fitness club off Harmony Road.

Since then, Ouellette and the other "Head Teds" have led clinics showing lessons developed originally in the United Kingdom to more than 200 children within the township and at two other locations in Fair Haven and Spring Lake.

Teddy bears sporting tennis pro outfits — prominently placed in the courts, gyms or multi-purpose rooms where clinics take place — represent the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels for two different age groups, Ouellette explained.

"We have Danny Bear, Tim Bear and Boris Bear for the three and-a-half to four-year-olds," Ouellette said. "For the four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half-year-olds, we have Charlie, Amanda and Johnny Bear."

Johnny Bear, the advanced level for the older group, is named for renowned tennis pro John McEnroe, she noted.

Along the way, the children also get to know each bear's likes and dislikes. Those lessons provide opportunities to teach about nutrition, healthy food choices and physical fitness, Ouellette said.

The lyrics of the songs used in those lessons are easy to learn and recall, she added.

"Music goes with everything," she said. "The kids can learn language skills through the music."

The beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels all include ten lessons each in movement, throwing and catching the balls, and swinging the racquets, Ouellette said. All of the lessons incorporate music and lyrics, which the children pick up easily.

Teaching children a love of the game of tennis, along with sportsmanship and social skills at an early age, is the goal of the Teddy Tennis program, Ouellette noted.

Preschoolers and their parents, especially those not well-acquainted with the sport, are the intended audience, she said.

"The secret of our success is to introduce the game to someone who ordinarily wouldn't play tennis," Ouellette said. "The program lends itself to the preschool population."

Many of the parents of the young players have reported that their children have enjoyed the program and usually want to return after each level's six-week session.

"Parents just love how their kids want to go back to Teddy Tennis," Ouellette said.

Coming from a tennis-playing family, the township native and Mater Dei High School graduate first learned about the program from her daughter, Colleen McDermott, who had played tennis under her mother's coaching at Middletown South from 1994 to 1998.

Through mutual friends, McDermott met a group of British businessmen visiting the U.S. a few years ago on a mission to introduce and sell Teddy Tennis to Americans, Ouellette recalled.

McDermott shared the information about Teddy Tennis with her mother, and Ouellette contacted the program offices in London to start up her own franchise locally.

As a former educator, operating the franchise and instructing students of any age or skill level is a natural fit for Ouellette, who has also managed the

"We're the third American franchise," she said.

The Teddy Tennis web site shows other American francises in Bergen County and Lebanon, Burlington County as well as in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, and Texas.

Over the summer, Ouellette and her fellow Head Teds brought the teddy bears and their racquets and balls to The Little Chiefs Learning Station in Leonardo and to the Seashore Day Camp in Long Branch.  Ouellette prefers teaching inside climate-controlled spaces in order to shield the children from the elements and ward off heat-related fatigue.

"It's better to play indoors because little children can tire very easily," Ouellette said.

As long as a clinic space has air conditioning, heat, and a roof, the game can be played year-round in most weather conditions as is done in the United Kingdom, she noted.

"You don't even really need a tennis court to teach this," Ouellette said. "You just need an activity center."  

Instead of a standard tennis court surface, the children use color-coded mats as they move from lesson to lesson, level to level.

The foam rubber tennis balls are more kid-friendly and softer than the stardard green or yellow tennis balls, she continued.

"The balls don't break anything. They're low compression balls with the air taken out of them," Ouellette said. "We can achieve the same goal as with the regular balls."

Parents are welcome to watch their children play from the sidelines, but unlike other organized fitness programs, they do not participate, she noted.

Matches are kept friendly and non-competititve with opponents shaking hands before and after a game, Ouellette pointed out. Sportsmanship awards and certificates will be awarded during a ceremony next month to the participants.

"Sportsmanship is a big piece of what we teach," she said.

Before beginning a lesson, the classmates greet everyone in the class, Ouellette explained. The student to Head Ted ratio is generally four to one. Two Head Teds instruct classes of six or more.

Other Head Teds include Paul Diomede, Ouellette's nephew and a township resident who holds a degree in theatre arts. Jack Saylor, who retired from teaching adaptive physical education in the township public schools, has been particularly helpful in teaching classes for special needs children.

Those students have included a few autistic children, who have adapted well to the clinic's highly structured exercises, Ouellette said.

"The program works well for them," she said.

Other retired physical educators including other former tennis coaches from within the Middletown school district might come on board as the franchise grows, Ouellette said.

"Our instructors have been involved in the world of tennis and come from a variety of experiences," she said.

Aside from 365 Fitness, Ouellette holds clinics at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Fair Haven Road in Fair Haven and in Spring Lake at 524 Brighton Avenue.

Going forward, Ouellette hopes to offer clinics through the township's parks and recreation department and at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.

She is currently negotiating for space at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Holmdel as a means of expanding the program westward this fall.

"My goal is to branch out all over Monmouth County," Ouellette said.

More information about the program can be found at www.teddytennis.com. To find out about Ouellette's clinics, email patty@teddytennis.com or call 732-804-0958.