Tennis has caused quite a stir in the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, in a smart way. Now, the United States Tennis Association Foundation (USTA) is launching the “Rally for the Future” crusade to help build on that momentum.
Last December, I covered for Forbes how tennis can help other people be compatible and interact with each other, even when nature drops a satan, so to speak. Covid-19 precautions such as social distancing. This contributed to the resurgence of tennis in the United States. According to a report through the Physical Activity Council (PAC) Engagement, 2020 saw a 22% increase in tennis participation in the United States. More than 21. 6 million people started playing last year, adding more than 6. 7 million, either absolutely new players or those who returned to the game after being away for a while. The number of new players courted (nearly 3 million) 44% higher than the baseline for 2019.
So, this can be a wonderful opportunity to hold the tennis rally. That’s why the USTA Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the USTA, launched the “Rally for the Future” campaign, with the purpose of raising $20 million over the next 3 years. to more than 250 chapters of National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) in the United States.
“Rally for the Future is the largest fundraising crusade in the history of the USTA Foundation,” said USTA Foundation President Kathleen Wu. Consider this a return to service of the “Rally to Rebuild” crusade that raised over $6. 5 million in 2020 for NJTL chapters that have been criticized during the Covid-19 pandemic. This investment helped keep all NJTL chapters open in 2020 with 209 chapters providing at least 4 weeks of tennis programming. It showed us that we can do a lot on an even larger scale. “
Wu explained how the Rally for the Future crusade will help further expand the chapters of the NJTL network and help them provide free or affordable tennis and education systems to more than 160,000 disadvantaged youth across the country. In 1969, Arthur Ashe founded the NJTL Network to succeed in underserved low-income communities and give everyone to tennis. Many of those communities have been hardest hit by the pandemic. “
He highlighted how these tennis systems can not only combat the epidemic of physical inactivity facing the United States, but also provide “life skills education. “In fact, the NJTIL network has served as central courts for other communities suffering during the pandemic. For example, Addison Staples, executive director of Aces in Motion (AIM) founded in Gainesville, Florida, described what happened when schools switched to online categories in 2020: “With the help of all of our staff, we designed a comprehensive after-school program, which reflected exactly the same format we had before, but all online. We introduced 1:1 tutoring, featured socializing, games, exercise, intellectual fitness counseling, so we had an intellectual fitness counselor on staff who met with students to communicate about their struggles and demanding situations with the pandemic, we had cooking categories, guest speakers, and much more, all presented five days a week.
When schools began resuming in-person classes, but not all students felt comfortable doing so, AIM implemented 20 to 25 student learning modules. some academics were forced to help the circle of relatives with work, rent and food,” Staples added. “The other thing we did, as many other people were afraid to pay their electricity, rent and food bills, we partnered with other organizations to deliver food to families, paid for the web when needed, distributed laptops to fellows in our program, and paid for the web for those who couldn’t pay.
Another is Dave Higaki, CEO of East Palo Alto Tennis.
The Rally for the Future crusade will not only help NJTL chapters overall, but also help several key systems for chapters. One is the “Return the Serve” program introduced through CHASE, where Chase will offer education and learning opportunities focused on monetary health. . Another is the NJTL essay festival presented through Deloitte for which NJTL participants will write essays answering thought-provoking questions. A third program is the USTA Foundation College Scholarship Award. that will choose high-potential student-athletes to succeed at the school and professional levels.
The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic would possibly have presented tennis in the United States with a breaking point, a turning point. After all, not too long ago, Merlisa Lawrence Corbett wrote a 2013 article for The Bleacher Report titled “Why Does American Tennis Die?”As you can imagine, the word ‘die’ isn’t positive unless you’re talking about ‘dying to play’ or ‘dying for pants. ‘”Despite the expansion of tennis in other parts of the world, in the United States it was believed that tennis was not a mass game. In fact, locating a pair of genuine tennis shoes in some shoe outlets is as complicated as locating an alpaca in a nightclub.
However, it is possible that all this is changing. With the pandemic lifting the veil on many issues in the United States, such as physical inequality and source of income, tennis would possibly have found its place. This can also be a sustainable way to get young people and adults returning from all walks of life.