Donations To This Program are Welcome
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Adaptive Learning program
Special Olympics
Launched in late 2019, the program is designed for Orange County Florida residents, between the ages of 6 and 24, that require some form of adaptive learning.
The program’s focus will be to teach athletes how to play tennis and integrate other educational components.
We partner with Special Olympics Florida. Special Olympics Orange County Florida and Special Olympics Seminole County Florida. At the State level, John Richards III is coach. At the County level we provide instruction for their Competition Tennis Teams. We also host, at Fort Gatlin, anyone meeting the participation requirements for the Special Olympics Tennis competition is Orange or Seminole County is welcome to try out for the team.
Teaching athletes with intellectual disabilities allows us the opportunity to make a huge difference in a young person’s life. The strategies we employ will empower all people with intellectual disabilities to grow and learn.
For greater detail see “Special Olympics Pathway” document.
Academy for Autism
This program was established in 2019 to service the needs of the local adaptive community and act as a feeder program into Special Olympics. Every Friday during the school year the Academy for Autism brings 30 students to Fort Gatlin to be taught by certified professionals free of charge. Despite a brief pause for Covid protocols in 2020, this program is going strong, with several athletes developing into Special Olympic athletes. We would like to thank the WAIT C ladies for their help volunteering and coaching of these ever-improving athletes.
Boone High School
The president of PRTF is the head coach of the Boone High School tennis team and thus due to the close ties with Boone, decided to start an adaptive program. Boone ESE students attend free lessons at Fort Gatlin once per week during the school year. They also can practice and improve at Boone’s courts during the summer four times per week. This gives great variance to the traditional ESE programming and helps the students boost self-confidence and improve technical and relationship building skills.
Red Bug
PRTF with the help of Red Bug Lake Park provides tennis lessons to the Seminole County and Adaptive Community every Friday. Red Bug Lake Park has also been gracious enough to allow for special events with over 100 participants. Check out our Instagram for event updates!
Princeton House
Subsidized tennis lessons are provided every Thursday at Princeton House in Orlando. Service is provided to 5 athletes and equipment is left on site for the staff to use as they see fit outside of scheduled classes.
Donations To This Program are Welcome
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Boys & Girls Clubs of America
This partnership between the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and PRTF was launched in early 2022 with a generous seed grant of $45,000 from the USTA Foundation. Over the course of five 8-week programs, kids 5-15 learn the basics of tennis at their home clubs. Additionally, Boys and Girls Club staff are trained to coach the fundamentals of tennis to enable them to, independently, sustain the program. During the initial pilot year, the program ran at West Orange, Eatonville and Taft locations with 120 kids served.. The ongoing program continues with funding through a $10,000 USTA Foundation grant, a joint Boys and Girls Club and PRTF fundraising event and private donations. Fundraising event sponsors and donations to this program are needed to continue with its expansion. Please contact Adrian Anderson at adrian@poshrocktennis.com.
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NJTL Program
As a National Junior Tennis & Learning Foundation, PRTF strives to improve its students’ lives in more ways than just tennis. Events will include a financial education and literacy portion and PRTF has partnered with Florida One Bank and Iberia Bank in the past and is always seeking financial institution partners. Nutrition and health have important roles in the program as well. Hebni Nutrition frequently assists with education on the importance of healthy foods and demonstrates how this can be done with a level of enjoyment.
Donations To This Program are Welcome
Donations To This Program are Welcome
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Tennis is Elementary Program (TIE)
Tennis Is Elementary Program (TIE) is an after-school program designed for elementary students in grades K-6. The program is conducted at each school’s gym, cafeteria, or multipurpose room by using the USTA 10 and Under Tennis format which includes foam or low-compression balls, smaller racquets and a reduced court size.
All instruction and equipment are provided through grants from the USTA Foundation and the USTA Florida Section Foundation, private donations and donations from Posh Rock Tennis. This is our longest running program and services approximately 100 students annually at Pershing, Conway, Lake Como, Sally Ride and Blankner.
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Summer Camp Scholarship Program
Fort Gatlin Tennis Center operates a summer camp program that runs 5 days per week for nine weeks. The cost for the camp is $190 per week.
Over the years there have been many occasions when parents of underprivileged children have inquired if there were any scholarships or grants available for their children to attend the camp at Fort Gatlin.
Each year, through the generosity of the Fort Gatlin tennis patrons who make contributions all year round, in our on-site “Donation Jar”, we sponsor as many children as possible for a week at the camp. PRTF would like to provide as many scholarships as possible and any contributions to increase them would be appreciated.
Donations To This Program are Welcome
Donations To This Program are Welcome
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Posh Rock Pathway Program
The Posh Rock Pathway program is a scholarship-based program meant to provide a path for promising youth in our community to grow and succeed through tennis and education. All students who participate in any of our programs are eligible to be considered for these scholarships.
Students who exhibit the traits and characteristics the Posh Rock Tennis Foundation seeks to encourage may receive a scholarship to participate in our developmental programming.