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Swinging
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Young students
learning tennis on new campus court
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
COMPTON – In
hopes of following in the footsteps of the infamous Williams sisters,
both born, raised and trained in Compton, youth attending an area elementary
school are taking up the sport of tennis on their very own regulation-size
tennis court.
Compton Unified’s George Washington Carver Elementary School
in Watts-Willowbrook June 5 celebrated the grand opening of a brand
new, state-of-the-art court located on the northwestern edge of its
120th Street campus.
After the excited children had gathered on the blacktop for a brief
afternoon pep rally, a bright red ribbon was cut and eager young tennis
learners, accompanied by Principal Dr. Jacqueline Sanderlin, burst
gleefully through the gate of the encaged, 120-foot by 50-foot court.
A U.S. Open blue tennis court.
“I had to call and ask for permission to use this color,” said
Sanderlin, who has headed Carver for five years.
The United States Tennis Association in 2005 changed the official color
of the courts used during the U.S. Open to a particular shade of blue
aimed at improving ball visibility for both players and fans.
The court came to fruition through a collaboration of the National
Junior Tennis League (NJTL), the LA84 Foundation, Southern California
Tennis Association (SCTA) and the school district’s Facilities
and Maintenance, Grounds and Transportation departments.
SCTA and LA84 funded the court, which is adjacent to two perpendicular
rows of bungalows and sits on a portion of the blacktop formerly utilized
for handball. Classified personnel from the aforementioned district
departments completed the actual physical construction.
Henry Talbert, executive director of SCTA, said he and colleague Arlene
Barco have never met with any organization as enthusiastic as was Carver,
and especially Sanderlin, in establishing a tennis court.
Kelcey Richardson, head of CUSD’s Instructional Compliance, Maintenance,
Operations and Transportation Department, echoed the sentiment, lauding
Sanderlin for her progressive ideas and actions.
“With her vision and leadership, she has shown all of us in Compton
what can happen when we work collectively together for a common good,” said
Richardson. “We in maintenance are just very, very pleased to
have had the opportunity to participate along with someone who is such
a dynamic leader.”
The principal, who is big on community and corporate partnerships,
brought all parties to the table. Several years ago, she began a complete
aesthetic overhaul at the once drab and dilapidated school site.
The tennis court is one of many finishing touches. Previous projects,
besides a full campus makeover complete with lively, colorful murals,
include the establishment of a computer lab, science lab and music
hall.
Select students have actually been receiving tennis instruction since
the beginning of the school year through the NJTL, which is supplying
a coach that the LA84 Foundation is funding. Temporary, mobile nets
had been set up on the blacktop while the court was being built.
Now that it’s finished, coach and former hitting instructor for
the Williams sisters, Kelvin Brown, will continue to visit the school
several times a week to teach the aspiring tennis players.
“We have the real deal here,” Sanderlin said proudly of
Brown. “Our
students are getting real expert training.”
Brown met Sanderlin at an orientation for the NJTL program. He’s
been with NJTL since the latter part of the 1980s, when the Williams
sisters’ father, Richard, introduced Brown to the organization.
“He requested that I join the program in 1988 to work at Ted
Watkins Park in Watts,” Brown said.
LA84, said Barco, was established in 1985 as an endowment foundation
with surplus funds from the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles.
Its youth tennis program originates from an idea of Ashe’s brought
to life through a parks and recreation program that the Williams sisters
participated in as young girls, she said.
More Than Just a Sport
Officials in attendance all agreed that tennis is more than just a
sport.
It can open up doors to college scholarships and improve life skills – not
to mention, it can be a lot of fun, said Barco.
On a different level, Sanderlin said it’s an opportunity to expose
her students, 100 percent of whom qualify for the free and reduced-price
meal program, to things they likely wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise.
“In a nutshell, it (tennis) opens their horizons,” she
said. “It
gives them an opportunity to know they can do something different,
and do something they see on TV.”
Tennis, too, crosses over into improving the overall health of Carver
Crusaders, roughly 70 percent of whom are Latino and the remaining
30 percent African American.
“It’s helping us tackle health-related problems like obesity,
diabetes and high blood pressure,” which plague both communities
at disproportionately high rates, Sanderlin said.
And it teaches the youth to take pride in their heritage. The court
was established in honor of Serena and Venus Williams as well as Arthur
Ashe and Althea Gibson, providing a hands-on connection to their legacies.
Finally, according to Brown, the brand new court and his instruction
serve as a form of empowerment to groups of youth who often do not
find accessible the kinds of opportunities youth in more affluent areas
do.
“This should be a very empowering thing because they have a chance
to have a court on campus,” Brown said. “A lot of other
kids don’t have that.”
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