Our Mission
RFT’s mission is to offer increased access to the sport of tennis to under-served athletes. Sports, in general, teach youth many valuable life lessons that serve as guiding principles. Tennis is no different. It requires staying physically active, engaging with others, being accountable to coaches, pushing yourself, setting goals, learning to compete, experiencing success, pushing through failure, and discovering the resilience to come back day after day. All of these are exceptional traits to cultivate in youth and will carry forth through adulthood. By shining a light on local programs and helping to raise money to increase their reach, RFT is fulfilling its mission to expose children to positive character traits that will serve as fundamental tools for a lifetime, both on and off the court.
Our Model
The true innovation of RFT’s model is the networking effect of kids helping kids. RFT mobilizes and empowers junior tennis players to work together to help their community. Each event is organized and run by local junior players, partnering with a local non-profit, to raise money to support community tennis programs that benefit under-resourced youth. Working with these amazing athletes reminds and reinforces the importance of resilience, humility, and graciousness to the volunteers. Providing an opportunity to help, in some small way, to make tennis more accessible to these deserving athletes is a life-changing moment. These junior volunteers and youth all benefit from being part of something bigger than themselves and their energy and enthusiasm are contagious!
