ROCKPORT — Get out and play TENNIS. When you visit the U.S. Tennis Association's website, that's the message, front and center. Midcoast Recreation Center is passionate about tennis and getting new players involved, and its Red Ball tennis program really gets kids out and playing tennis.

This season, MRC recorded 544 kids ages 6-8 participating in its free Red Ball program. In Orange Ball, for kids ages 7-10, 252 participated this season.

"In prior years, we only had a quarter of the number of kids in Orange Ball," said MRC Tennis Director Seth Meyer. "The great piece is that Orange Ball, the next step up, the numbers in that were fantastic this year. It shows that kids are sticking with it and moving up through the ranks."

Meyer said Red Ball was initially intended to be a September to May program, providing kids the opportunity to play tennis a couple times a week after school. Red Ball is offered three times weekly during the school year and kids can participate in one or all of the offerings.

MRC provides children ages 6-8 with their own youth sized tennis racket to keep, use and take home with them. MRC underwrites all the costs and the young kids play for free.

"We picked this age group because we wanted to give young kids an opportunity to try it out," said Meyer. "We wanted to take down barriers at the entry level, to get as many kids going as possible."

Children are allowed to participate in multiple sessions of Red Ball, until their skill level increases enough to graduate into the Orange Ball program.

"It's become so popular and has had such a high interest level, that it keeps expanding," said Meyer.

During the school year, Red Ball starts right after school, and kids can take the school bus to MRC and be dropped right off at the door. Once there, Meyer said it provides a safe place for kids to be while introducing a lot of kids to the sport "who may not otherwise have the opportunity."

The program was initiated because MRC found that many families won't try a new sport because of the costs involved. Meyer said the program is also aligned with USTA's 10 and Under Tennis philosophy.

That means kid-sized rackets, kid-sizes courts and tennis balls that are lower in compression so they bounce lower and don't move as fast so they are easier to hit. It's a chance to "learn real tennis and have real fun doing it" right from the start.

And for the first time, MRC is offering Red Ball camps, three times this summer. The first will be held at Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro, and runs from June 26-29.

Meyer said they expect between 25 to 30 children to participate this summer.

The second camp runs from July 10-13 at Rockland's Oceanside High School tennis courts, and the third is at Waldo County YMCA in Belfast and runs from Aug. 14-18.

"This is the first time we have done these camps, and the goal is reach communities that we don't have a lot of kids playing tennis in yet", said Meyer. "We looking forward to growing tennis in Belfast, Rockland and Waldoboro."

And the reason they have offered Red Ball for free is that MRC is a nonprofit and wants to serve the community, said Meyer.

"And we want to get to as many kids as possible, to get them in the door, which benefits the program," he said. "Red Ball has gotten some good buzz, which has helped our junior program overall."

Related link:

• Midcoast Recreation Center: 2017 Red Ball Report