Tennis Lessons Teach More Than a Game

This past semester, for a few hours every Friday on the East Campus courts behind Lilly Library, members of the Duke Tennis Club got the chance to teach the game of tennis to about 20 young students enrolled in an after-school program at St. James Baptist Church.

The idea for the Duke Durham Tennis Project came from Duke junior Grace Tan, a tennis enthusiast from Singapore who has been playing the sport since age 8. Tan said one reason why this project is important to her is she worries that tennis is open to only a small, privileged group.

"Starting this initiative was one way for me to share the game and for it to stop being such an exclusive sport," Tan said. "The initiative has been popular at the elementary schools. The students are very excited about the opportunity to play tennis."

Sixth-grader Dominique Blue attended each week of tennis practice with the Duke club.  She said she found the skills and exercises she learned from the coaches particularly helpful.

"I like the games that we played, and I liked learning how to do backhands, and how to play tennis," she said.

Blue said she especially enjoyed the opportunity to play against other students; if she could change anything about the program, she said she would add more game competition. She would also encourage more students to participate.

The genesis of the project began two summers ago, when Tan was working with a micro-lending agency in New Mexico through Duke's Hart Leadership Program. This work led her to think about doing more community service work. Her interest in tennis presented a chance for her to help the community while doing something she already loved.

With assistance from public policy professor Charles Clotfelter and Alma Blount, director of the Hart Leadership Program at the Sanford Institute, as well as other students active in community service, Tan was able to get the project rolling.

One of her first orders of business was to ask Duke students for donations of rackets and balls. The youngsters get to keep rackets, to give them a sense of ownership in the program, Tan said. The club currently has a sufficient supply of rackets, but will need more to maintain the program.

Tan and others in the club are also working to ensure that other aspects of the program keep going once the current members graduate. Alyssa Randall, one of the organizers of the Duke Durham Tennis Project and a senior, said she believes the program can expand to other sports.

"Something doesn't have to be academically related to be a good impact on someone's life. It would be a positive outlet for the young students, and I think a lot of people could really jump into it," Randall said.

Tan and Randall both said one rewarding aspect of the project is learning to be a mentor and role model for the St. James youngsters. 

"A lot of these kids really do need a role model. So, we are achieving these twin goals of community service and also sharing this activity that we love," Tan said.

Added Randall: "What I love the most is to see that the kids are having a good time out there on a Friday afternoon, hitting some tennis balls, playing some games. That really makes my day."

Eileen Kuo is a senior from Boulder, Colo.