“Forty-love!” might be a score that we can expect to hear in the St. Augustine Room this fall.

In March, St. Augustine Catholic School launched a tennis program for its nearly 200 students in PreK(3) through 8^th grade. The next Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Venus Williams might find his or her start at 15^th & V Streets, N.W.

“They are taking to the sport,” said David Merriwether, a Professional Tennis Registry (FTP)-certified instructor who is teaching tennis with fellow FTP-certified coach Enoch Thompson. “They love it.”

Both men are members of St. Anthony Council #417 of the Knights of Columbus in Washington, where Mr. Merriwether serves as grand knight. A childhood friend of St. Augustine School alumnus and lifetime parishioner Kenneth Brown, Mr. Merriwether was introduced by Mr. Brown to Rev. Patrick A. Smith, pastor of St. Augustine Church, which ultimately led to the launch of the tennis program.

St. Anthony Council has purchased balls, racquets and nets for St. Augustine School and given them to the school, according to Merriwether.  The students are learning to play on 21-inch, 23-inch and 25-inch rackets and smaller, rubber balls through the U.S. Tennis Association’s QuickStart program, designed to help young people pick up the sport quicker.

During the spring, Mr. Merriwether coached the St. Augustine School students once a week. He and Mr. Thompson are also assisting at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy and St. Anthony Catholic School and try to focus much of their efforts on second to fourth grade students.

Given their time constraints and resources, the two coaches have the ultimate goal of teaching the physical education teachers at the three schools – including Mr. Clinton Perrow at St. Augustine – so that the PE teachers can then carry the program forward. “If we get the gym teachers involved, they can do it every day,” he said of the tennis classes.