TGA – which stands for Tennis, Golf, and Athletics – is a national organization parented by Youth Athletics United that runs programs across the country aimed at exposing kids to fun and exciting athletic activities to help them grow into strong and disciplined young adults.

TGA of Northern Nassau County is the latest franchisee of the 21-year-old organization, having only started up in March of 2024. However, in the short time that they've been in existence, they are rapidly becoming one of the top youth sport providers for tennis, golf and pickleball in Nassau County, according to the franchise's owner and director, Dr. Moronke Oshin-Martin.

“We really believe that playing sports changes lives, and it can have a tremendous impact on child development,” she said. “When you are playing a sport, it can help you to develop mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally in a way that children who do not play sports do not. So, we use sports as a catalyst to meet the needs of the whole child using a specially-designed, age-specific curriculum designed to develop gross motor skills, fitness and health.”

“We take a holistic approach,” Dr. Oshin-Martin continued. “In that sense, TGA doesn't teach sports in the same way as a sports academy would, because we're very much focused on the overall development of that child. In addition to developing athletic skills, our afterschool enrichment programs, camps and clinics promote academic learning and life lessons that foster individual growth, teamwork and sportsmanship.” We want our students to become lifelong players of the sport.”

Dr. Oshin-Martin was an avid sports enthusiast herself growing up and continues to be today.  This enable her to speak firsthand to the benefits that such activities can provide for young people, especially in today’s challenging times, where depression and anxiety is prevalent among many children.

“I grew up playing just about every sport out there, and my children grew up the same way, having been exposed to a variety of sports,” Dr. Oshin-Martin said. “There are some sports you go into where the training is so harsh and difficult that it turns you off. Parents sometimes will push kids into certain programs, and it can be very stressful on the child, but I argue that sports should not cause stress or be intimidating.”

For example, there are children that may not like team sports, Dr. Oshin-Martin noted, but would flourish in individual sports, so TGA of Northern Nassau County is currently promoting individual sports to get children interested in playing sports.

“Our curriculum is based on a 5-level progression approach, starting with learning the basics, practice skills, preparing to play, mastering the skills, all the way to playing like a pro. This approach allows us to instruct children based on where they are, and encourage them to push themselves and set their own goals,” she said. “We try to make it fun; we want children to see sports as being fun. Our curriculum stresses positive reinforcement and teaches children how to play sports through deliberate play, meaning that you're playing with a purpose.”

TGA of Northern Nassau County serves children as young as 5 – although children can engage in tennis starting at age 4 – to the age of 15. Other age groups and populations can engage with their programs as well, but that age range represents the TGA's core group, Dr. Oshin-Martin said.

“We teach your children enough about the sport to learn the fundamentals, and how it works by incorporating aspects of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics), as well as the strategies that they need to become better players,” she said. “And as they get older and they want to continue, we can move them to sports academies where they begin to play competitively. TGA offers a noncompetitive environment. We are just trying to instill in children a love of the game and empower them.”

TGA of Northern Nassau County serves a wide area of Long Island; the organization is not based in any one particular place, but instead enters into partnerships with school districts and other organizations that serve children, bringing these sports programs to them. TGA’s certified coaches will set up the programs and run the children through the paces as they introduce to them a love of physical activity and the confidence it instills in them.

“We partner with elementary schools, parks and recreation, golf courses, after-school enrichment programs, recreational leagues, and more,” Dr. Oshin-Martin said. “Even though we are focused on Northern Nassau County, we have groups from all over Long Island reaching out to us, such as Freeport, Inwood, Port Washington, Great Neck, Floral Park, Roselyn, Old Westbury, and Westbury. This fall we are going to be starting programs in many of those school districts.”

All the coaches working for TGA of Northern Nassau County are experienced sports players, instructors and teachers themselves, many of whom used to actually play professionally and are looking for a way to continue with sports while passing down their skills to the next generation of players.

TGA will partner with the schools and organizations in question, and while there are fees involved for the children to participate in the programs, the costs are often spread out in order to keep them very affordable.

Dr. Oshin-Martin herself has a very fascinating background, having worked in the journalism and public relations fields for many years as a communications professional. She later became a professor, teaching journalism and communications courses as well as dabbling for a time in the public school system. She eventually retired from full-time teaching in order to re-embrace her love of sports, and to that end, she became a franchisee of the TGA and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I've engaged in just about every sport, from track and field, tennis, golf, lacrosse, hockey, and more,” she said. “I very much believe that sports change lives. It helps to instill discipline and leadership and so many other things in our kids. We need to start early...many kids are not introduced to sports until they get into high school, and our belief is that if you start them early, not only will you get better athletic skills, but schools will also have more opportunities to build better teams, because the students will have a passion for the game. They will have the skills, and they are improving on them.”

To find out more about the TGA of Northern Nassau County, please email Moronke@playtga.com, call 516-202-0763 or visit their website at https://playtga.com/northernnassaucounty.