A Special Impact

At USTA Northern, we strongly believe tennis should be a sport where everyone has an opportunity to play, learn, and grow. Mark Encell is helping make this belief a reality. 

Partnering with the Down Syndrome Association of Minnesota, Encell hosts a weekly camp for people with Down Syndrome of all ages to teach them the basics of tennis. These events are full of energy, encouragement, and fun, where each athlete gets to experience tennis at their own pace. Working alongside a number of volunteers, Encell runs age and skill appropriate drills to teach players basic strokes. 

This has been a long-term goal and passion for Encell, saying, “when I became a certified tennis instructor several years ago, creating a class like this was always something I wanted to do.  I love teaching tennis and I love working with these individuals so combining these two passions of mine with this tennis camp for kids with Downs Syndrome represents for me, the best of all possible worlds!”

This camp doesn’t just help players improve on the court, Encell is committed to showing them all that is possible with hard work, dedication, and passion. At one of their Friday morning sessions, the camp welcomed Special Olympics Swimming Medalist Nicolas Diaz to give the players an example of all they can accomplish. 

Diaz’s Special Olympics experience started on a high note, saying he was “stoked” about the opportunity and “pretty proud of himself.” With the journey just beginning, his mom, Katherine Gyolai, took him to their local Lifetime pool twice a week to prepare for the Games. “We told him that you took a spot on the team, so you’ve got to earn that spot,” Gyolai remarked. “The biggest change I saw in him was that he understood that he had to put in the work … he pushed himself to places that I don’t know if he ever pushed himself before and it paid off.”