Horace Mann Elementary to Teach Tennis for First Time

USTA Missouri President Mallory Weber and Springfield’s Cooper Tennis Complex are serving as the school’s community provider. USTA Missouri and USTA St. Louis Tennis Service Representative Alywn Mushonga sent Watkins the equipment pack and is excited to see what’s in store for the elementary school with this new partnership.

“Having Mallory and Cooper as their community provider is really a blessing to them because they can have after-school programs,” Mushonga said. “That’s something we can plan in the future where they go to Cooper and take a couple lessons. It’s really an exciting opportunity for them to be connected to Cooper Tennis Complex.”

Horace Mann has one on-campus tennis court and is about a 20-minute drive from the Cooper Complex. Even closer is Gillenwaters Park & Tennis Complex, located just one mile from the school. Watkins intends to leverage that proximity by taking her oldest students to Gillenwaters’ 12-court facility for a fun-filled tennis trip.

“The culminating event that has never been done in 17 years is I’m taking them on a walking field trip with all my specialty teachers,” Watkins said. “All three fifth-grade classes are going to walk over to Gillenwaters, and we get to play. Cooper donated like 17 tennis racquets. I’ve been going to yard sales. I put it out on Facebook: ‘Hey, if you have extra tennis racquets, I really need some.’

“With the ones being donated from USTA, I should have enough racquets for all 75 kids for us to go and play one day. Is that so cool? We’re going to do a round-robin type of thing.”

Watkins grew up playing tennis for fun and plays the sport today with her daughter, mother and sister’s family. The crew enjoys tossing up a net at the Watkins house and playing in the street with touch tennis balls. While attending college, Watkins coached the Greenwood Laboratory School boys’ and girls’ tennis teams. She has already begun reading through the full lesson plans USTA provided for her K-5 students at Horace Mann.

“It’s super cool, and I’m really excited about that,” Watkins said. “I’ve been on there checking out all the cool things. It’s not just like, ‘Go out and play tennis.’ It’s all these different techniques. I was so shocked. All the different K-5 things I can do are amazing — the ball-handling and fun games. I’m very excited.”

Mushonga said getting tennis into schools is one of his top priorities as USTA Missouri TSR. That’s in part because Mushonga — who later developed into a standout collegiate student-athlete — was discovered while playing at his school and earned a scholarship to attend a tennis academy in Zimbabwe. You can read more about Mushonga’s journey by clicking here.

“For me, it’s really personal because it’s giving these kids a chance,” Mushonga said. “A lot of these types of kids come from low-income families. They cannot afford racquets. Giving these kids a chance to play is a big step. Hopefully we can get the whole district involved so every kid can get a chance to experience what tennis is like. You never know. You might end up somewhere you thought you were never going to be for tennis.”

Watkins is looking forward to teaching her students the same sport she’s enjoyed playing throughout her life. Her daughter and nephew have grown to love the sport, and she’s excited for Horace Mann students to gain exposure to tennis for the first time in the school’s history.

“They’re going to be so excited to have this sport they can go play with their families,” Watkins said. “They can go home and be like, ‘Mom, look what I learned today. Dad, we can go play tennis at the school.’ They can take their families to Gillenwaters. The kids are going to really enjoy it.

“Tennis is a sport they can play for the rest of their lives. This is one of my main reasons I am very passionate about tennis. I just want to give them these skills and the basic knowledge of how to play. And then get them out there doing it. I love it, so I want them to love it.”