Take a Swing Tennis
Take a Swing, Inc. works to provide children from economically disadvantaged communities with the opportunity to learn tennis, and simultaneously foster character development and cultivate valuable life skills, such as mental strength and self confidence, within every participant.
Sobre ti
Ubicación
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
tu idea
Field of Work
health/sports
If Field of Work is “other” please define in 1-2 words below
Year project started (or projected start date) (yyyy)
2007
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Project URL (or link to any media coverage)
What is the primary problem your venture is trying to address and how are you addressing it (or planning to address it)?
Take a Swing, Inc. is dedicated to improving the quality of life of and generating opportunities for children from economically disadvantaged areas. A tennis clinic and academy program, Take a Swing, Inc. offers unique services and resources to children who do not have access to organized fitness and developmental training programs. Teaching not only proper tennis strokes, but also valuable life skills, Take a Swing, Inc. works to overcome the economic restrictions placed upon these children, showing them a future filled with prosperity and growth. Volunteers and coaches, composed of a diverse group of young social activists, serve as teachers as well as role-models, providing a positive influence and leading the way to a bright future.
Name Your Project
Take a Swing Tennis
Describe Your Idea
Take a Swing, Inc. works to provide children from economically disadvantaged communities with the opportunity to learn tennis, and simultaneously foster character development and cultivate valuable life skills, such as mental strength and self confidence, within every participant.
Innovación
Project Description
Take a Swing, Inc. works to provide children from economically disadvantaged communities with the opportunity to learn tennis, and simultaneously foster character development and cultivate valuable life skills, such as mental strength and self confidence, within every participant.
Unique and different
Take a Swing, Inc. is the only tennis service program in the Southeast which serves children from economically disadvantaged communities. Formally structured, yet also interactive and engaging, Take a Swing tennis academies are rare opportunities for children from low- income backgrounds to be engaged in an organized sport. Unique in its dedication not only to present circumstances, but to future hopes, Take a Swing encourages the development of valuable life skills, as well as athletic skills. These life skills will hopefully accompany the children of Take a Swing through their childhoods, through their teenage years, and through their adult careers.
Solely youth-led and youth-organized, Take a Swing, Inc. also represents a unique chance for high-school students and athletes to become officially certified as a tennis coach, share their skills, meet new teens, and interact with a group of youth from diverse backgrounds.
Project plan
Currently, Take a Swing, Inc. runs two different monthly tennis clinics. In the next six months, Take a Swing, Inc. plans on continuing these two clinics, as well as adding weekly academies with other organizations. For the next six months, Take a Swing is planning to serve at least 70 children, at least half of whom will be served on a weekly basis by our tennis academies. Our organization also plans to train at least 20 more coaches through a United States Tennis Association (USTA) certified training course, so that we will be able to better serve the academy participants. Take a Swing, Inc. is also hoping to acquire more funding in order to expand the organization, extend the opportunity to more children, and help serve a larger part of the community.
Partnerships
Many organizations and businesses have actively supported Take a Swing, Inc. throughout its development. The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has contributed resources and financial support to ensure the success of the program, has publicized and increased the community involvement of Take a Swing, Inc., and has invited Take a Swing, Inc. to become an official, USTA sponsored, Community Tennis Association (CTA), which will help facilitate the expansion of Take a Swing, Inc. The International Tennis Academy (ITA) is a major benefactor of Take a Swing, Inc., and provides tennis courts to run academies, clinics, and events. Several companies throughout Atlanta, including PGA Tour Superstore and Mellow Mushroom Pizza, have provided in-kind donations in the form of equipment and food for the participants.
Partnerships with other non-profit organizations have also helped increase community awareness and publicity for the program. Take a Swing, Inc., due to its engagement with Wilderness Works non-profit organization, has been highlighted on The Today Show in a segment featuring non-profit organizations in the Atlanta area.
Take a Swing, Inc. has also established partnerships with approximately 20 high school tennis teams in the Atlanta area. Volunteer recruitment is primarily facilitated through these affiliations.
Impacto
Impact
Take a Swing works to provide economically-disadvantaged children with the opportunity to learn and play tennis, develop athletic and mental strength, and the chance to gain valuable life skills.
Effectiveness
Beginning in March 2008, Take a Swing, Inc. has run tennis programs for over 120 children, ages 6 to 13, and trained approximately 40 high school students to receive official recreational tennis coach certifications from the United States Tennis Association.
How do you engage and impact the community?
The Take a Swing tennis program serves a wide range of participants, engages a diverse group of volunteers, and works with many businesses, organizations, and individuals in the Atlanta community. Participants of the Take a Swing tennis program are children from non-profit organizations in Atlanta, such as Wilderness Works and The Latin American Association. All Take a Swing events and academies are held at local tennis centers, which allows the community to become a part of the Take a Swing, Inc. family. Through a strong and developing partnership with USTA, Take a Swing, Inc. is able to maximize its outreach to the large Atlanta tennis community, and engage avid tennis players, fans, and supporters in the Take a Swing, Inc. mission. By working with approximately twenty schools in the Atlanta area, Take a Swing, Inc. brings together students from a variety of different backgrounds for the greater purpose of community development and youth activism. Though Take a Swing, Inc. is only in the midst of its first year, the program has gained a great deal of community support.
Take a Swing, Inc. provides opportunities that are significant for both participants and volunteers. A fundamental purpose of Take a Swing is to provide economically disadvantaged children, 80% of whom never had the opportunity to participate in a structured physical fitness program, with the chance to participate in an organized sport that will aid them in developing valuable life skills such as teamwork, determination, and companionship, as well as physical fitness. For the volunteers, as well, Take a Swing, Inc. is a valuable, eye-opening experience into the lives of the economically disadvantaged. Taking their experience with them, Take a Swing, Inc. volunteers will become more involved in the welfare of their communities.
How do you measure this impact?
The impact of Take a Swing is measured in terms of the number of volunteers engaged and the number of children reached. The more dedicated and numerous the volunteers, the more sustainable the program. Though the impact of Take a Swing is deeper than numbers, the number of children reached is a tangible factor by which we can measure our impact.
Obstacles
Take a Swing, Inc. faces certain obstacles in maximizing the impact of the program, primarily due to a lack of funds and a constantly increasing budget. The organization needs money to provide transportation for the children from their homes to the tennis courts, to book tennis courts for its volunteer-run academies, and to provide drinking water and equipment for the children at each academy session. Cost is a prevalent limiting factor in the development of Take a Swing, Inc., yet it does not hinder our enthusiasm for affecting change in the community, nor does it discourage our efforts to extend the opportunities we offer to as many participants as possible.
Esta presentación se trata de
Sustenibilidad
Fuente de financiamiento
(or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)
Take a Swing's initiative is financed by in-kind donations, grants, certain fundraisers, and USTA RCW's (tennis coaching camp).
Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow and sustain your project?
We plan to expand our program by continuing our current monthly projects, while reaching out to different communities. We plan to sustain our program with continued in-kind donations, grants, fundraisers, and USTA RCW's (tennis coaching camp).
Finance details
Take a Swing is funded and supported by a diverse range of beneficiaries. Take a Swing has raised over 3,000 dollars in in-kind donations of tennis equipment, transportation fees, court fees, food and prizes for the academy, and business assistance. The benefactors include USTA, International tennis academy, PGA tour superstores, Mellow Mushroom, Smoothie king, as well as a large number of individuals. In addition, Take a Swing has raised approximately 1,500 dollars, from a Youth Venture Grant, as well as a number of fundraising initiatives. Our team is composed of eleven high school students from six high schools in the Atlanta area. Our board consists of a President, a Director, a Head of Communications, a Head of Outreach, a Secretary, a Grants Manager, and a Treasurer. Take a Swing, Inc. works with over ten businesses, one hundred high school students, thirty adult advisors and supporters, a number of out-of state tennis instructors and business affiliates, and several other individuals in the Atlanta area.
Creative funding
Take a Swing, inc. hosted a fundraiser at a local tennis academy (International Tennis Academy in Atlanta). We sold smoothies sponsored by Smoothie King and advertised for donations. In the later part of our fundraising day, we hosted an academy; passersbys could see us putting their donations to work before they donated. In the near future, Take a Swing is planning to sell t-shirts, and wristbands with catchy tennis phrases on them. USTA provides our team with a great portion of our resources.
Other non finance needs
Take a Swing, Inc. needs increased publicity and volunteer support to help us better maintain and organize our projects.
La historia
Motivation
As an immigrant from China, I knew all about the opportunities that the economically disadvantaged lacked. The place where I lived was composed of people of a range of financial statuses. Schooling was expensive in China; children no more than eight years of age were commonly in the streets less than ten miles away from where I lived, which was a middle class apartment, begging for money on their knees so they can pursue an education. Similarly, older citizens with disabilities and younger children to take care of were also commonly found begging for money so that they could send their children to school. My move to America did not make me forget the sights I witnessed almost daily in my birthplace.
Now, I am at an age where I can make a difference in the community. Thus, I combined my passion for tennis with my determination to help the disadvantaged children and formed Take a Swing, where children can receive mentorship as well as tennis lessons. Through Take a Swing, Inc. I hope our participants can discover their limitless potential and develop skills to be successful in their futures.
Awards
Take a Swing, Inc. has received the honor of being invited to become a Community Tennis Association (CTA); an independently managed branch of USTA. We plan to collaborate within the next two months. In addition, Take a Swing, Inc. has recieved grants from USTA and Youth Venture.
Personally, I have been awarded by The Amit Organization as Youth Service Volunteer of the year in 2007 and was honored at their annual dinner for my work with developmentally disabled children. In addition, I was elected in 2008 as the Vice-President of the Hands on Atlanta Youth Service Advisory Board, and as Vice-President of Programming for my high school's student council.
Broader context
Take a Swing Tennis is an organization that both relates and contributes to the broader youth and social change movement. The sole purpose of Take a Swing is to provide economically disadvantaged children, who may never have had the opportunity play tennis, a chance to learn an organized sport that will aid them in developing valuable life skills such as teamwork, determination, and companionship, as well as physical fitness. Our organization serves children in low-income communities and helps change their lives for the better, offering an outlet to a positive future.
A great portion of our organization is made up of high school tennis coaches. Through Take a Swing, Inc., these tennis players can use their skills for a greater good in a way they usually only do for a personal gain. By starting with the coaches we have, Take a Swing, Inc. will hopefully serve as a catalyst and model for other youth service initiatives and tennis players, .
Ongoing
Both members of the executive administration will put in great effort and time during their high school years. We do not see college as an obstacle, but as an opportunity for Take a Swing, Inc. to spread wherever we go. We hope that the rest of our staff and our members will do the same. Similarly, life after schooling will provide even greater opportunities to expand Take a Swing, Inc.
What is your age?
16
How did you hear about this competition?
As a Youth Venture team and member of its website, we received an email telling us about this site and the grants it offered. Additionally, Cameron Blevins of Youth Venture approached Take a Swing, Inc. and urged us to apply for this grant.
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