Staten Island Cricket Club The Staten Island Cricket Club ( SICC ) is a cricket club on Staten Island , New York that was incorporated as the Staten Island Cricket and Base Ball Club on March 22 , 1872 . It became the first tennis venue in the United States . History . The club originally played at St . George on the “ Flats ” or old Camp Washington Terminal from 1866 to 1886 . While not the oldest cricket club in the United States , it does claim to be the oldest cricket club in continuous use since its founding in that country . Mary Outerbridge brought tennis to the club in 1874 . The first national tennis tournament in America was held at the club on September 1 , 1880 . ' The waterfront land was known by its Civil War use as Camp Washington . It was here that Mary Ewing Outerbridge , resident of the historic area , introduced lawn tennis in the spring of 1874 . Her brother Emilius helped her to set up a net and mark out a tennis court on the grounds of Camp Washington used by the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club . The club had to give way to Erastus Wiman ' s ventures at that site and move to the former Rufus King Delafield estate in the Livingston neighborhood of Staten Island about away from St . George . In 1906 the name of the club was changed to the Staten Island Cricket and Tennis Club , and changed again in 1931 to the Staten Island Cricket Club . In 1925 the property was sold to the Staten Island Academy then sold in 1930 to the city of New York . After the sale to city the estate was originally named Livingston Park but was later renamed Walker Park in memory of Randolph St . George Walker Jr . , a casualty of World War I and son of a prominent member and officer of the club . " A clubhouse on the grounds burned down in 1932 , taking many of the club ' s records with it . The clubhouse was replaced with a Tudor style brick structure in 1934 that is still standing . Famous cricketers that have played while visiting at the SICC include W . G . Grace , Colin Blythe , K . S . Ranjitsinhji , and Donald Bradman . Early movie scenes of the S I Cricket Club can be seen in the famous silent film Raffles the Amateur Cracksman ( 1917 ) with famous actor John Barrymore . Barrymore lived on Staten Island as a child . The film is also on youtube . Scenes show a cricket match played at the club . Recent activity . Walker Park has the SICC cricket field with cricket pitch prominently placed in the center of the park , but it also has six asphalt tennis courts in its southeast corner , a little league baseball field in its southwest corner , two basketball court s along the west , and a children ' s playground in the northwest corner . The cricket club uses the 1934 brick and half - timbered clubhouse in the northeast corner of the park at 50 Bard Avenue . In the 2000s the club participated in competitive matches in the New York Metropolitan and District Association League . The Latin motto of the club is " Lude Ludum Insignia Secundaria " which is translated to mean " Winning the game is a secondary concern . Playing the game is a primary reward . ( It ' s just a game . . . ) " In popular culture it was depicted in Joseph O ' Neill ' s novel Netherland which was a story about a New York banker shaken up by the events of September 11 , 2001 who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island club .