By David Benoit
Special to the Reporter

This summer Tenacity is looking to make Dorchester Park its newest doubles partner.

For seven weeks, the tennis and reading summer program will test the courts of Dot Park, providing youths from the ages of 7 to 15 a chance to learn to hit a backhand and inspire a love of reading.

Tenacity was founded in 1999 with the mission of supporting Boston youth in the game of tennis, and also their academic pursuits. It runs a year round after-school program as well as the seven-week summer program throughout the city. Each serves up part tennis instruction and part reading.

"What we want to do is have kids running around having fun and playing games right from the first day they get there, and at the same time they are getting instruction and learning how to play," says Tenacity Program Director Andy Crane. "But it's not just a tennis program; it's a tennis and reading program."

The kids will all be involved in at least 30 minutes of structured reading time a day, the younger ones reading out loud and the older ones working on their summer reading assignments.

Jane Boyer, the president of the Dorchester Parks Association, was a key player in bringing the city-wide program into Dorchester Park, first getting some old basketball courts converted into tennis courts, and then getting Tenacity out to see them.

"Anything that will benefit the children in the area I like to see happen. It's all positive, they can do their reading and they can be outside they can learn a sport that they can play for years," she says.

Crane estimates that about 150 to 200 Dot youths will be at Dorchester Park, and over 3,000 will practice their volleys and forehands across the city.

"This is a lifetime sport, it's not like football or basketball. We think it's a great sport for city kids, because they will play it all their lives."

Those who really catch on to the tennis will have opportunities to play in doubles matches around Boston, traveling to the different parks and competing against other youths.

For the reading part of the day, fully trained staff members work with the kids on their reading skills and getting them excited about reading. Tenacity has a working relationship with ReadBoston, a family literacy program run by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which provides books for each of the 20 sites.

Other Dot area parks that have Tenacity programs are Ripley Playground, Savin Hill Park, the Grove Hall Community Center, and Madison Park, each running on the same system of games and learning.

"We are really, really excited starting a program there. It's a part of Dorchester that we were not serving and the Dorchester Park Association is terrific," Crane says of the new initiative. "The sight is beautiful, the courts are new, we have a lot of interest, and we are going to have a lot of kids over there."