One summer day about seven years ago, Jason Mercado, co-director of North Shore Day Camp in Glen Cove, played a tennis match on the camp’s courts.
But this was no ordinary match against a peer; Mercado was playing an opponent who could barely see over the net, and may have enjoyed juice boxes and animal crackers more than he.
The opponent was 6-year-old Drew Hassenbein, a new camper who was already a precocious tennis player.
Surely the adult Mercado would wipe the floor with this kid, right?
Nope.
“I think it was like 6-4, me, but it was a hard-fought set for sure,” Mercado recalled with a laugh recently. “He was so good even then. I knew he was going to be great one day, so I had that (victory) in my back pocket, so that I could tell people years later about it.”
Mitch Hassenbein, Drew’s father, remembered that match.
“He wasn’t too happy about losing, to a grownup or anybody,” Hassenbein remembered. “He was always trying to win, no matter what.”
That fighting spirit is one of the many things that endure about Hassenbein. The 14-year-old was killed, along with friend Ethan Falkowitz, on May 3, 2023 by a drunk driver.
The 8th grader was already a very accomplished young tennis star, one of the best in his age group in the country, and the top singles player on Roslyn High School’s varsity squad.
His loss is deeply felt all over the tennis world and on Long Island, and particularly at North Shore camp, where Drew spent two summers, and at sister camp Timber Lake, where Drew spent four years.
Before this 2024 camp season the tennis courts at both places were renamed “Drew’s Courts” in his honor.
“He was a very driven kid who had such great energy and really drew people to him,” Mercado said. “For us to be able to do something to honor him, and tell the campers here about him, is really special.”
The camp courts renaming came about when Mitch Hassenbein approached camps owner Jay Jacobs, who readily agreed it was a good idea.
The campers at both locations this summer were told about the name change and about Drew.
And it’s just one way that the Hassenbein family is trying to keep his legacy alive. Mitch Hassenbein said he’d just returned from Timber Lake in upstate Shandaken, N.Y. after a multi-camp tournament was held in Drew’s honor.
“(At sleepaway camp) he was always wanting to do extra tennis, extra tennis, extra tennis,” Mitch Hassenbein said. “Some kids were all about flag football, or baseball or other sports. So it was really nice to be able to have a tournament that brought a lot of people together.”
The Hassenbein Foundation also has as a mission to expose underprivileged children to the sport of tennis, as well as sponsoring elite juniors like Drew, and helping aspiring pros become champions.
The Foundation is also building a tennis court in upstate N.Y. near the Catskills called Steve’s Camp, an organization that takes kids from New York City up to camp each summer, as well as holding tournaments (pro-ams) at Glen Head Country Club on Aug.1 and in Southampton at Racket League on Aug. 9.
“We want to empower everyone who plays tennis to do it and put their all into their game,” Mitch Hassenbein said. “And hopefully when people see the courts named after Drew, they’ll think a little bit about him, and find out what a great person he was.”
