When Kweisi Kenyatte was growing up in Detroit, he didn’t have a positive African American male role model to help guide him in his tennis journey. Now a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Kenyatte came to Diversity Day at the Edwardsville Futures to give African American kids inspiration to play tennis. Even though he’s nursing a hand injury, Kenyatte wanted to be there to hit around with the kids. “No one ever came to hit with us,” Kenyatte said. “All I want to do is let them know they can play at the next level. It’s easy. All you have to do is work hard.”
The Whirlwind Johnson Foundation partnered as well, represented by Bobby Johnson, grandson of Dr. Robert Walter Johnson. Dr. Johnson was the founder of the American Tennis Association Junior Development Program for African American youths. He used his home in Lynchburg, Virginia as a free training facility for kids, where he trained Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson. Bobby Johnson made the trip to Diversity Day to meet and run drills with the kids in attendance, as well as give a presentation after the drills about his grandfather’s legacy and the importance of tennis.
HS coach Dave Lipe and executive member of the tournament committee Kris Lakin are heavily involved with the planning and organizing of not only Diversity Day, but of the Edwardsville Futures week as a whole. As a coach for over 20 years, Lipe has taken the Dr. Johnson style of approach to the game by giving kids an opportunity to compete and succeed in the sport. “The kids are the stars out here today,” Lipe said. “Providing an opportunity for the diversification of tennis is what we’re about today. We’ve had great support from the tennis community. It’s an honor to work alongside the associations involved and having Bobby (Johnson) here is the icing on the cake.” (read more)
(click here for full article)