Longboater combines tennis, passion for kids

In 2001, Larry Greenspon competed in the Maccabiah Games for the first time at a center he assumed was just another tennis club.

He didn’t know it then, but that center would become an important part of his life.

Upon his return to Longboat Key, he attended a fundraising event that featured a video shot at the same site of his Maccabiah competition.

Unbeknownst to him, Greenspon had played at an Israel Tennis Center, which is part of the Israel Tennis Center Foundation, the largest social-service agency for children in Israel. Throughout Israel, 14 centers located in areas that face economic challenges serve children between 5 and 18 — about 20,000 per year.

“I said ‘this is for me,’” Greenspon, 69,  said. “I was looking for something here on Longboat. Israel, kids, tennis, it’s perfect.”

Since then, Greenspon has put his heart and soul into the Israel Tennis Centers. He is the immediate past international chairman of the organization and continues to organize a fundraiser for the centers on Longboat Key each year.

And now, he’s heading back. This will be Greenspon’s fourth time competing in the games. Since his first match in 2001, which was also his first time visiting Israel, Greenspon has won two silver medals and a bronze. He will be competing in the men’s 65 and up division.

He continually plays in the Maccabiah Games, also known as the “Jewish Olympics,” not only because he is an avid and competitive tennis player, but because he sees it as a way to raise awareness of ITC. He is amazed at the number of people who are unaware of the foundation’s existence.

“This is a way that we can also introduce the tennis centers to Jews from all over the world,” he said. “And they’re tennis players, and they love Israel, they love tennis, so it’s a good vehicle for introducing the tennis centers.”

To prepare for this year’s games, Greenspon has been playing singles at the tennis gardens of the Longboat Key Club every day for two hours with members and tennis pros. After losing 30 pounds, he says he is a new person from when he competed three years ago.

Greenspon started playing tennis after college. He said that was right around the time tennis began to boom in the United States following the fame of Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors.

“Tennis has been a very important part of my life,” he said. “I think I’m a better person for it. If it can do it for me, it can do it for all the other kids being brought up.”

Greenspon says he is the “old guy” of the games now. Newcomers will call him asking for help with practice times and even restaurant recommendations. But even after all these years competing at the games, Greenspon still can’t get over the camaraderie.

“For me, it’s the meeting people from all over the place or who are avid tennis players or who love Israel, and hopefully they’ll have a love for ITC by the time I’m done with them,” he said.

The opening ceremony for the games is on July 6, though some competition starts July 5. As the games began, 20,000 to 30,000 people will watch 1,000 athletes from about 70 countries march into the stadium.

“That’s really one of the reason the Maccabiah Games exist,” he said. “They want to bring Jews from all over the world to Israel to introduce them to Israel and this is a way of doing it.”