The Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation (MTEF) is known and respected around Midwest Section and the country as having a relatively large (4,200 children annually) and successful central-city youth education, life skills and tennis program.  MTEF, through its year-round TEAM Program has won numerous awards at the district, section and national level.  What many people didn't realize is that we have offered adult tennis lessons for the past three summers through a partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Department of Recreation & Community Development.  The Ford Foundation's "Community Building Through Recreational Facilities" grant process changed our previous business model of focusing primarily on only children and reinforced the theory that tennis is a game for the entire family.

The difficulty of the Ford initiative is that it required an adult and family component, not just youth programming.  Unlike many of the National Junior Tennis League (NJTL) Chapters around the country, MTEF is also a Community Tennis Association (CTA).  Being a CTA and having capacity and structure already in place for community adult programming gave MTEF a unique opportunity to build an aspect of our organization that had previously been underdeveloped.  The premise was simple – increase the number of citywide adult lesson sites and add the league component to encourage teams to travel to different community neighborhoods in the city of Milwaukee.  No suburbs would be used for this league as Milwaukee already had a very successful league program, almost entirely played in the outlying suburbs.  Tennis is a great equalizer.  It does not matter if the players speak the same language as their opponents or who has more money in the bank.  The league would bring a diverse people together for a wholesome activity.  

A five-tiered partnership with MPS, USTA – Wisconsin District, Milwaukee Public Parks and Moorland Indoor Tennis Club provided the infrastructure necessary to offer a low-cost year-round league to all Milwaukee area residents, with each organization benefiting from the partnership.  MPS and the County Parks provided the physical assets, the courts, for free.  Moorland Park Tennis Club waived their membership requirement and reduced indoor court fees substantially to make the indoor portion affordable, and the USTA Wisconsin District offered a USTA membership rebate to all participants. 

But would people join?  Was there an interest in tennis in the city?  Thanks to a strong distribution system and collaborative marketing effort that reached over 110,000 households in the Milwaukee area, and the organization skills of Nancy Massart, Wisconsin District Coordinator (DLC), and Katie Seitz, MPS Recreation Department Assistant Supervisor, the first-ever Milwaukee Metro USTA League was formed. Starting a May USTA league from scratch in April without any captains to a group consisting largely of beginners and advanced beginners is no easy task.  Educating and registering players, then building each team is a challenge even for the most experienced and organized administrators, but somehow Nancy and Katie worked together to make this happen.

The lesson program was used a cross-marketing tool, intentionally set up on opposite days of the league.  People could brush up on their skills and play in a competitive, traveling league where they had the opportunity to interact with a racially diverse population.  Once the league was off the ground the final step was to hire a Local League Coordinator.  Someone with the ability to administer, educate and market the league to potentially interested parties.  Essie Herron, a retired and respected community leader and avid tennis player was hired to fill this position. 

Through Essie's direction and leadership, the league has flourished, surprising even those of us who knew that it could be successful.  The numbers are impressive: twelve citywide facilities (sixty courts) where tennis was previously non-existent, 234 adult lesson participants, 188 league players and new USTA memberships in five separate year-round leagues in an area where league tennis was thought to be over saturated. 

Opportunities exist all around us but sometimes there needs to be a catalyst.  In our situation it was in the shape of a potential grant, one that was going to take foresight, discipline, persistence and above all, leadership to win.  MTEF realized early on that we can't solve central-city problems on our own.  We need partnering organizations to join us and build a collation of resources that can effectively induce change.  We need the Nancy's, Katie's and Essie's of the city on our side because with their help a tennis ball can really change a community.