For 25 years, MWYF has impacted the lives of over 20,000 children. Our Tennis Director, Marc Atkinson, was one of the first students touched by the Foundation. Check out what he has to say about his experience and why he chose to come back to help change the lives of others:
Q: When did you attend MWYF as a student?
I attended the Foundation, Tennis-N-Tutoring, when it first started back in 2000, I was the very first student to sign up. I actually first met Ms. Terri at a block party during a Education for Youth Boot Camp I was in at Mayport, who had an end-of-the-year block party and I met Ms. Terri and she said “ Hey, you wanna sign up for Tennis and Tutoring?”. I was like “Tennis-N-Tutoring? What is Tennis?” The only thing I knew about tennis was Serena. So I said you know what, I’ll give it a try. So I was the first student to sign up back in 2000. We had about 25 kids in the program and now we are sitting here with 200 kids, it’s truly amazing.
Q: What is the most impactful thing the program did for you as a student?
The most impactful thing the Foundation has done for me as a student was keeping me off the streets and giving me a safe place to go after school. If I wasn’t coming here I’d probably be out running the streets, being a knucklehead like every other boy I knew. But the Foundation gave me a safe place and an opportunity to learn and play tennis, so I took advantage of the opportunity and it saved my life really.
Q: What are the most rewarding thing aspects of being the Tennis Director at MWYF?
The most rewarding thing about being the Director of Tennis at the Foundation is the opportunity to teach tennis to the youth. I teach tennis because, I mainly just want to give the kids a different outlet to make it out of the neighborhood. You know, most of them only play basketball, football or wanna be a rapper, or get caught up in some street mess or whatever they get caught up in nowadays. I just like giving our kids the opportunity of a different way out of the neighborhood than focusing on the basic “African American” sports, like they call it. I rather teach them tennis where they have more opportunities to be successful, if they really took advantage of their opportunity.
Q: As the Director of Tennis, what is your favorite memory with your students?
One of my favorite memories was with a young lady named Keshell Brown. She was murdered a few years ago, but I taught her backhand and she had like the best backhand in the Foundation’s history. I would put her backhand up against anybody- Serena, Mal. Mal’s backhand wasn’t as good as hers. But that’s one of my favorite moments and memories, teaching her backhand and watching her hit it and talking about “Oh, I got that Coach Marc backhand!” You know, that was a real blessing to me.
Q: What do you see as the biggest accomplishment of the Foundation So far?
The biggest accomplishment of the Foundation for the last 25 years- it’s still growing. You know not many programs or non-profits, at that, can say they grow every year, their impact is getting bigger every year, they’re expanding throughout the city of Jacksonville and more people are learning about them. Not a lot of non-profits or NJTLs can actually say that.
Q: Do you have anything to say to our supporters?
For the supporters, for the last 25 years, I would personally say I appreciate each and every one of ya’ll. You know, even if you donated money or donated your time or just sent items here, we really appreciate everything you’ve done for us. You can see, I’m a direct impact of the Foundation. The first student to graduate high school, the first student to graduate college, the first kid to play college tennis from the Foundation. And now that I’ve come back you’re the reason that I strive to try to be the best I can be and come back to the Foundation to give more.
