Tennis ties it all together for East St. Louis children

From late January until early March, kids from all across East St. Louis got together for extracurricular, hands-on learning through the 40 Days of Nonviolence program.

The grassroots initiative, which suspended its annual operation more than eight years ago, returned to East St. Louis this year. The program is designed to build positive life skills within children of all ages, with an emphasis on conflict resolution, holistic and mental health education, and career pathways.

“We have a student who has a lot of turmoil and has issues with conflict resolution,” said Kimberly McClellan, executive committee member of 40 Days of Nonviolence. “I remember he came up after one session. It was easy to see how much he had learned, and he said, ‘That was awesome.’”

McClellan explained that most of the curriculum in schools skims over critical social skills, leaving kids without methods to deal with certain problems. In a post-pandemic world where many kids are lacking one to two years of experience socially, it’s crucial these children learn multi-use life skills.

“The things we’re teaching about conflict resolution and healthy relationships are so important for kids here and for the future of our community,” McClellan said.

These skills aren’t just taught in a classroom setting, though. Every Saturday during the course of the program, the kids spent an hour practicing tennis skills and drills.

“Skills like strategic thinking, decision-making and even learning how to lose—these all are a big part of tennis and a big part of what we’re trying to do here,” said Kimberly Y. Hughes Gill, treasurer of the East St. Louis Community Tennis Association and first vice president of the USTA Missouri Valley Board of Directors. “Through tennis, these kids are better suited to resolve conflicts and form connections with their peers.”

The kids took part in beginner tennis drills, practicing things like balance and hand-eye coordination, before working on getting the ball over the net. These introductory lessons, where kids have positive experiences while learning the sport, are crucial to development within the children.

But these beginner drills are also so important in bringing tennis to the younger populations. That bridge could be huge in growing the sport to a community-wide scale.

“Among sports, the growth of tennis in East St. Louis is a priority,” Hughes Gill said. “It’s new to many of the young people. But with new courts and by getting it into the schools, we’re excited about what’ll happen in the next few years.”

Thanks to USTA grants and a strong partnership between the East St. Louis CTA and East St. Louis Park District, there have been significant increases in tennis-related developments and programming. After the three public courts in Lincoln Park were renovated last spring, six brand new ones are scheduled to be unveiled in the coming months at East St. Louis Senior High School. In addition, there are multiple tennis camps in the summer along with other seasonal activities—like the 40 Days tennis initiative.

Hughes Gill said the CTA is working with schools to introduce tennis into the physical education curriculum, as opposed to other racquet sports such as badminton. She explained the schools have property around them to support at least one or two courts, and they could play a crucial role in promoting tennis to young populations.

“There’s so many new avenues that we’re exploring and so many parties involved,” Hughes Gill said. “I think that the USTA is starting to really notice what we’re doing on a national scale.”

For more information about the 40 Days of Nonviolence initiative, click here, and for a video about the program, click here. For more information about the East St. Louis CTA, click here.