Welcome to the South Side Junior Tennis Camp (“SSJTC”), a division of Friends of Chicago International Schools of Tennis, NFP.  Friends of CICS Tennis is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2006, to expose students of Chicago International Charter Schools (“CICS”) to the life-long benefits of tennis through professional instruction, mentoring and regular play.Our initial tennis program focused on providing a healthy lifestyle after/out of school option for CICS students.  These students were selected because they are not the children who typically play tennis.  Our students generally come from low income families and would not have access to this level of quality tennis instruction without this program.In 2011, we established the South Side Junior Tennis Camp in order to offer our programs to the entire South Side community.  During its inaugural season, SSJTC introduced more than 130 children between 6 - 13 years age to the sport of tennis on the high school varsity courts at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.We believe tennis should be accessible to all families, regardless of household income.  Unfortunately, in many communities this simply is not the case.  With the high costs of group and private instruction, tennis carries the stigma of a sport that requires a level of investment that only more affluent families can afford.  The South Side Junior Tennis Camp focuses on providing instructional programming that allows each child a first rate introduction from experienced volunteer instructors at no cost to the families.We also believe that tennis is the sport of life lessons.  Through tennis, children learn about sportsmanship and healthy competition.  They learn about work ethic, how to practice and to persevere.  Children learn how to analyze information and make decisions in a split second.  And, they learn to be accountable for their own actions.  These are all lessons that will make them better students and better citizens.Every child deserves the opportunity to try new activities in the form of the arts, hobbies, and, of course, sports.  The more opportunities children are given, the greater the likelihood they will find their calling and enrich their lives both inside and outside of the classroom.  Tennis is the sport of opportunity.  We hope that the South Side Junior Tennis Camp will provide one of these special opportunities for our students and the South Side Community.We invite you to join our team:  Get involved.  We’re always looking for tennis instructors, volunteers, academic tutors, and private donations.On behalf of the SSJTC team, we’d like to personally thank you for visiting our web site and learning more about South Side Junior Tennis.  We look forward to meeting you.