Missouri Valley / Missouri

Cooper Staff Teaches Tennis at Juneteenth Experience

Josh Sellmeyer | June 02, 2023


Staff members of Cooper Tennis Complex are teaching tennis at historic Silver Springs Park in Springfield as part of the “Timmons Hall Juneteenth Experience.” Participating students spend 30 minutes learning the backstory of Juneteenth and Timmons Hall and spend an additional 30 minutes playing tennis at the park’s courts.

 

“Having this educational piece about Juneteenth is really neat,” said Mallory Weber, USTA Missouri president. “They’ve tied tennis to it. The kids are going to get to learn about Althea Gibson. There are some other things they’re going to get to learn about historic African-American tennis players, and they’ll get to participate in the sport. We’re really excited to be a part of it.”

 

The Timmons Hall Juneteenth Experience runs weekdays from June 9 to June 28, skipping June 15, 16, 19 and 20. During the 13 days of celebration, a different group of students each morning and afternoon visit Timmons Hall to discover the history of Juneteenth, Timmons Hall and Silver Springs Park. Christine Peoples, Timmons Hall coordinator, runs the educational component while Weber and her staff provide the free tennis activity.

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Each morning of the three-week festivities, one group of students learns from Peoples while the other group learns tennis. The two groups then swap places. A different collection of students come in the afternoon with the process repeating itself. K-12 students participating in Explore — the Springfield Public Schools summer program — have the opportunity to take part in the learning experience and hands-on activity.

 

“Many kids know Venus and Serena Williams, but there were so many people who set the stage prior to them to give them that opportunity — whether it was Arthur Ashe or Althea Gibson,” Weber said. “They had these role models to look up to. For some of these kids who maybe tennis wasn’t something they thought was a sport for them, they can see people who look like them, have succeeded and they can look up to.

“They might not have ever thought they could play tennis. And now they’re having an opportunity to try it.”

 

Timmons Hall — formerly Timmons Temple — was a small church serving Springfield’s African-American community for better than 80 years before the congregation outgrew the building and relocated. Timmons Hall was sold and slated for demolition. But the nonprofit group Save Timmons Temple (now Friends of Timmons Temple) formed in 2014 to preserve the church, noting its beauty and historic significance.

 

In 2015, Timmons Temple was lifted from its foundation and relocated about 600 feet into Silver Springs Park. Silver Springs was the only public park in Springfield open to black residents during segregation. It was one of the few places African-Americans could play tennis in Springfield during that period.

 

Peoples provides educational speakers, services and field trips to teach visitors about the history of Timmons Hall and Silver Springs Park. Both facilities are part of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, as is Cooper Tennis Complex. Cooper employees worked with Peoples last year, too, taking part in a one-day Juneteenth activity at Silver Springs.

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