I love the game of tennis. It’s been an integral part of my life since a young age. Through tennis I have developed passion and a sense of purpose for my life’s work. It brought me to Minnesota to play for the Gophers and has provided valuable life experiences, learning, and growth. I am very happy to be working in tennis, helping to grow the sport.
This year and for the second straight year, my program Tenicity has gained participation from over 500 youth players ages 5-17. Since 2020, in a 3-year span, we have grown youth participation in the game in our region by 211%. We have achieved this growth through delivering programs, developing coaches, and creating quality experiences for all participants from the beginner to high performance level.
Our grassroots programs began with Centennial Schools Community Education in 2020 and have grown each year. We now have programs running in collaboration with the cities of New Brighton, Blaine, and Bloomington in addition to Centennial. Next year we will have new collaborations with the cities of Edina and Shorewood. The programs bring many new players into the sport, provide them with strong fundamental skills training, and create inspiration for them to develop in the game.
Our junior development and high performance programs provide a development path for players to reach higher levels. We are drawing players from Minnesota and Wisconsin and providing an integrated coaching model that includes tennis instruction with fitness and mental skills training. Our coaching methods include the principles of positive youth development to create lessons, skills, and values that participants can take away and apply on and off the court.
This year we also launched new community outreach efforts to create tennis play and learning opportunities for many children. Through several Try Tennis Clinics conducted in neighborhood parks and schools and Pop-Up Parks programs in apartment complexes, we brought the game to over 100 youth. I thank USTA Northern for their support with our community-based programs.
We have also developed over 20 coaches including many student-coaches who have gained leadership, communication, and other valuable life skills through coaching in our programs. I take great pleasure in providing training and development for our coaches to grow in their experience and skills. As we develop more coaches, we will be able to deliver more programs and grow our sport.
I appreciate the support of all our city and school partners who are helping us to grow tennis in the communities. To parents I often say, you are providing a lifelong gift to your children by getting them involved in tennis. We thank parents for their support and look forward to working each day to have a positive impact on all the participants who come to us to learn and develop in the game!
Harsh Mankad, Founder and President of Tenicity
