USTA SOCAL COMMUNITY
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
A Team Effort
USTA Southern California has partnered with several world-class organizations which strengthen our resolve to improve communities by using tennis as a vehicle to support health and wellness. Through tennis play and friendly competition, we promote character-building traits like sportsmanship, resilience, confidence, self-esteem and positive habits.
A Team Effort
USTA Southern California has partnered with several world-class organizations which strengthen our resolve to improve communities by using tennis as a vehicle to support health and wellness. Through tennis play and friendly competition, we promote character-building traits like sportsmanship, resilience, confidence, self-esteem and positive habits.
City of Los Angeles
Universal Play Tennis
Since 2019, USTA SoCal has been working closely with the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department to upgrade public park tennis facilities and bring highly subsidized tennis programming to the City’s youth. The City and USTA SoCal have ambitions to roll out this program in as many as 90 public parks over several years.
As of 2019-2020, Universal Play has been introduced and is operating in the following City of LA facilities:
- St. Andrews Recreation Center
- Van Ness Recreation Center
- Green Meadows Recreation Center
- Lanark Recreation Center
- Sun Valley Recreation Center
- Montecito Heights Recreation Center
- Lincoln Park Recreation Center
Beyond the Bell
Through our partnership with the Beyond the Bell Middle School Unit, tennis was delivered to over 15 schools throughout LAUSD during the 2019-2020 school year.
USTA SoCal supported Beyond the Bell coaches by providing on-court training, curriculum, and equipment to help them deliver the physical, social and emotional benefits of tennis to their students. Each of the schools offered tennis at least two times per week and competed within their local region for two rounds of interscholastic competition.
The season culminated with the LA City Middle School Championships at Cal State Northridge. This year marked the first time in program history that the championships were held on a college campus, which provided an aspirational component to the event. We look forward to continuing our relationship with this amazing organization.
LA84 Foundation
USTA SoCal has worked with the LA84 Foundation for more than 34 years, going back to LA84’s founding with the surplus from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games!
In 2019, we expanded our work with LA84 beyond NJTL’s to include schools, parks, adaptive programming, and the Youth Council. LA84 represents the Gold Standard among organizations committed to providing youth sports programs to underserved communities, and it is an honor that the Foundation has demonstrated sustained confidence and support for the work of USTA SoCal in meeting its criteria related to tennis programming.