Serving Youth Tennis is a non-profit organization in the Tampa Bay area whose mission is to build biblical character through sport and create pathways to college. 

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THE ORIGIN

Serving Youth Tennis (SYT) was founded in 2018 by three public school teachers and three students from a local elementary school who gathered at a nearby park to learn tennis

 

Andrew Garcia, a Hillsborough County fourth-grade teacher, used his background as a tennis coach to teach his elementary students a sport he loves. Both students and adults alike grew to cherish the sport, and that was the beginning of "Serving Youth Tennis." Since 2018, those same students and adults have continued to meet on Saturday mornings to learn more about tennis. The program steadily increased in numbers as more adults and students came together to practice and learn. 

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THE GROWTH

In 2019 SYT officially registered as a non-profit organization in Tampa, Florida. The Board of Directors, a dedicated group of Christians, decided that they wanted to do more than teach students tennis. They wanted to be a catalyst in changing the path of each student athlete’s life for the better. The non-profit organization was created to invest in children’s lives forever in a variety of ways.

 

Over the past few years, SYT has served over 250 athletes, including beginners, advanced beginners, all-boy and all-girl teams, and speakers of other languages. Additionally, SYT has hosted several tennis camps and adapted online COVID-19 pandemic practices on ZOOM, which connected athletes from different parts of the world, from Brazil to Puerto Rico. 

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THE VALUES

In many circles, tennis is known as a “wealthy man” sport and SYT takes pride in its ability to provide high-quality tennis instruction for free to families who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn or play the wonderful sport of tennis.

 

SYT invests in the child’s and their families futures. As a program, we care for our athletes as one of our own and go out of our way to provide them the support they each individually need. As teachers, students are often in a class for a year and then are never seen again; we provide a space for adults to maintain a lifelong mentorship with the athletes and stay connected with them from the elementary age all the way to high school and hope to stay connected throughout college as well.

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THE FAITH

As a Christian organization, SYT provides bible studies to help instill biblical character in our athletes and help the students and families come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. We help families read and learn from the Bible, pray with them and provide connections with local churches that will help them develop their relationship with Christ. In the summer of 2021, Southside Baptist Church blessed SYT and has provided bus transportation for athletes and their families to and from church, in addition to providing Spanish services to make the Gospel more accessible to our families.

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THE EXPECTATIONS

SYT maintains high expectations for the academic and character development of its athletes. Coaches remain involved in the athlete's school lives and monitor their performances to provide support with homework and academics when able. At every practice, SYT instills important character development skills such as respect, commitment, and selflessness that they not only can utilize on the tennis courts but in every aspect of their lives.