For 10 years, Nikki Cioffi and the Cincinnati Tennis Foundation have been in classrooms and gyms helping kids achieve academically and fall in love with tennis.
"Tennis is an awesome hook, and it's a way to get kids excited, active and doing a lifelong sport that they can play forever," said Cioffi. "Our mission is to use tennis in education to create life champions. So we're all about what can we do for kids on the court — but what else can we do with kids in the classroom or mentoring?"
Laura Oberbeck is the community and schools coordinator. Over the last year she went to 30 schools helping teach the sport and lend equipment to gym classes.
"I go in and kind of do a gym takeover with the teachers, and teach tennis all day in a gym class," Overbeck said. "So I go around and introduce the sport to the kids, then invite them on to play with us throughout the rest of the year. So if we can get them just tossing a ball back and forth, which is one of our first steps in tennis, to getting active and giving them something they can do."
Watch the kids show off what they've learned below:
One kid who's certainly embraced that mission is Liam, who's been attending for five years. He's one of the group's more experienced players.
"It's good and coach Laura is great, and all the coaches that come in are great" Liam told me.
I asked him what he's learned since participating in the programs.
"I've learned how to do ups and downs ... and just how to hit the ball correctly," he said.
Meanwhile, Jacob Peerless has been in the foundation for six years and currently plays for Walnut Hills. His hope is to play college tennis in a few years. But right now, he's focused on giving back.
"I love to come out and give them the opportunity to hit, make the connections with their friends, and just give them that sort of opportunity to play tennis that they wouldn't have previously had," said Peerless.
Cioffi told me the Cincinnati Tennis Foundation is thrilled to be part of the Queen City's tennis community, and to have the opportunity to educate kids on the sport.
"Everyone from the person playing the sport from the first time, all the way to the person that's aspiring to be a professional player, and we're just happy to be a part of the community all along the way," Cioffi said.
