Meet Thanh Tran: Educator, Philanthropist and Community Leader

A look at tennis and education through an Asian American lens puts into sharp focus Tennis & Tech™ — a program founded by Detroit entrepreneur Thanh Tran.

A longtime Michigan resident who was born in Vietnam, Thanh works to prepare K-12 youth in underserved communities for opportunities in technology through programming that often combines tennis camp with computer coding, robotics and digital arts.

“It evolved to focus on the whole child,” Thanh says of Tennis & Tech™, “physically and mentally. Kids can learn tennis for wellness and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) for supplemental education.”

Since 2019, about 300 Detroit area youth aged 7 to 14 have participated in Tennis & Tech™ sessions that included learning how to code an app for a tennis game while also learning how to play the sport.

Thanh and his parents fled Vietnam when he was just six years old. They made their way first to Thailand and later relocated to the United States in the mid-1970s. Settling in Michigan, Thanh studied electrical engineering after high school at Michigan State University and then worked in corporate jobs before striking out on his own as an entrepreneur. His first start-up company created a successful electronic medical records and scheduling system.

In college in the 1980s, Thanh got the tennis bug after learning that fellow Asian American Michael Chang won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17.

“He inspired me to play tennis and it evolved into a passion that allowed me to play recreationally and compete in USTA tournaments,” he said. Thanh also served on the board of USTA Southeastern Michigan, a district of the USTA Midwest section.