40-Love: After 40 Years of Growth, Future Stars Still Maintains Its Values

Here in New York, parents have an abundance of options on where they choose to send their children for camp each summer, and that abundance includes an array of tennis-specific camps.

Because of this, standing out amongst the pack is imperative for any camp. For the last several decades, Future Stars Camps has done just that, establishing a culture that has not only been successful in terms of developing great tennis players, but also in creating a family-like environment that keeps generations of people coming back each year.

Future Stars has been around for more than 40 years, and began with one single camp at Manhattanville College, with only about a dozen campers that first year. The following year, global soccer star Pele ran a soccer camp at the same location which attracted hundreds of kids, but he did not run the camp the following year, which was when Future Stars picked up the mantle. The rest is history, and now Future Stars operates nearly 30 different programs at seven locations throughout New York.

No matter how large Future Stars has become, the relationships between the staff and the campers and their families remains at the heart of what makes Future Stars successful.

Whether it’s the directors, the counselors or the campers themselves, they all rave about the welcoming nature of Future Stars, and how that breeds familiarity and comfortability year-after-year. At the core of that is Camp Director Pablo Montesi, who has been at the healm for nearly two decades.

“For me, it all actually starts with owner Charlie VanDercook, who trained many of the coaches and counselors, including myself,” said Montesi. “I worked with him closely, and then began running the camp myself. I think having the same director here helps with establishing a standard and maintaining consistency.”

That standard and consistency has been at the core of Future Star’s success, as despite its massive growth and numerous locations, it has not abandoned the values that make it what it is. That is evident when you look at those who attended the camp, many of whom move on to become counselors in training and then counselors when they become old enough. By establishing essentially a pathway from camper to counselor, that consistency remains intact.

“I had such good relationships with the counselors when I was younger and coming here as a camper,” said Ava Azulei, who is 15-years-old and is now a counselor. “Even ones that don’t work here anymore, I still stay in touch with them, and I’m very close with all the counselors here, and those relationships are very special to me.”

For Azulei, the transition from moving from a camper to a counselor was made easy because of the staff there.

“I feel like it was a seamless transition. I saw how my counselors did it when I was a camper, and I used that to help me prepare to become a counselor and follow in their footsteps,” she added. “The campers here are also really well-behaved and nice, very respectful, and it makes it such a great experience.”

The Future Stars staff is comprised of people from all over the world which helps foster a diverse environment where everybody’s voice is heard, and that goes a long way in developing a report with its clientele. This collection of talented staff bring their own attributes and strengths to the table, and when they come together under the Future Stars umbrella, a truly supportive environment is formed.

“For a lot of us as international students, we come here to play college tennis and are used to being a part of a vast mix of people, and working together as a team” said Tjasa Jerse, one of the directors under Montesi. “We all come with different personalities and speak different languages, but we come here to work for the same goal. That comes from the top down and Pablo really sets that example. We share the same values and have the same goals, and everybody is able to bring their own piece to the puzzle. Even though we have a large number of kids across so many different locations, we maintain that personal connection to our campers, we know their names and their parents’ names, and I think that goes a long way towards families trusting us with their kids.”

That environment has proven to be successful both in terms of developing top tennis players but also in bringing tennis to their campers in a way that makes them want to continue playing for years to come.

Nine-year-old Lucas added:

“I’ve been playing tennis since I was about three-years-old. My favorite shot to hit is the drop shot. Coach Lucas is my favorite here, he speaks Portuguese like I do.”

“It’s not only our job to teach forehands and backhands, but really help these kids develop and create a connection to the sport of tennis they can use for a lifetime,” said Jimmy Merah. “They are able to make friends and that’s important, because it makes the campers want to continue coming back year-after-year, and also leads to the campers eventually wanting to become counselors and counselors-in-training. They enjoyed it so much that it’s an environment they want to work in when they get older, and that helps maintain our values here at Future Stars.”

Between the top level of instruction but also the family-like atmosphere, Future Stars has a stellar reputation which has existed for nearly half a century. While Montesi and his staff maintain a standard and consistency, they are always looking to evolve and improve as times change, something they do well.

Just this last summer, they began running UTR tournaments at their facilities, and are planning on doing more as we head into the winter months. Future Stars also hosts parent-child tournaments multiple times throughout the course of camp, and launched its own singles tournaments for its campers.

One of its winners, James Crespi, a six-year-old, said:

“The tournaments are my favorite part of camp,” he said. “If I could play one person in the world it would be Novak Djokovic. I think I could beat him.”

That confidence is an important aspect of tennis development, and its these sorts of memories that Future Stars helps create for its campers, and that they plan on continue doing for years to come.

“We’re excited about what we have been able to build here, and look forward to maintaining that consistency as we move forward,” Montesi added. “We are always adjusting and trying to see what’s new to give our campers the best possible experience. We aren’t dead set in our ways, we’re always evolving and innovating, and always trying different ways to help our staffers accommodate different levels of players, and give them an unforgettable summer camp experience, and provide them a positive connection to tennis.”