“You have to work your way up to tennis,” said Walter Odom, who spent 20 years working for the city before he got the Fort Greene Park tennis courts gig.”

EARLY BIRDS “I get up early, so I can wake myself up, pack up all my stuff I need. I leave the house at 5:25 a.m. and wake myself up as I get along. Sometimes I stop by the bodega in the morning and they have my coffee ready for me. I get to the park at 6:15 and my morning crew of players is already here. They get on the court at daybreak. I had someone this morning say: “Hey, tell this guy he’s got to go. He’s been playing too long!” And I tell them, Listen, that don’t count. Timekeeping starts at 8 o’clock. If you get out of your bed at 5 o’clock, and sit out here in the dark, and sit and wait until daybreak, you can stay on for two hours if you want. They can even take their shirts off then. Once 8 o’clock comes, they know they’ve got to get off the court.”

“Timekeeping starts at 8 o’clock. If you get out of your bed at 5 o’clock, and sit out here in the dark, and sit and wait until daybreak, you can stay on for two hours if you want.” “Timekeeping starts at 8 o’clock. If you get out of your bed at 5 o’clock, and sit out here in the dark, and sit and wait until daybreak, you can stay on for two hours if you want.”

ROOTS “Growing up in Fort Greene, we had a lot people that came from different parts of the south, and a lot of Italians, Puerto Ricans, even a couple of Filipinos. We farmed in Fort Greene Park. My mom planted scallions and potatoes, and the Italians showed my mom how to pick out the mushrooms you actually wanted to eat. We shared recipes, everybody shared. Where I grew up, in the ’60s or the ’70s, it was like all hands on deck.”