Black Tennis Pros

The USTA and First Lady Michelle Obama’s "Let’s Move!" campaign have teamed up to encourage young people across the country to get active, try tennis and lead healthy lifestyles. Components of the collaboration include a new public service announcement to air nationwide, the construction and renovation of thousands of tennis courts across the country and the commitment to encourage 200,000 children to participate in the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award.

"It’s important for kids to get the hour of active play they need every day, and there are so many fun things that each of us can do to be healthier," said First Lady Michelle Obama. "Thanks to programs like the USTA’s 10 and Under Tennis initiative, it’s easier than ever for kids to get active and have fun. And that’s a big part of what we’re doing with Let’s Move!, America’s campaign to raise a healthier generation of kids.

"Tennis is the sport of opportunity. With our new 10 and Under initiative, tennis is also the newest ‘pick-up sport,’ where kids can play in schools, in parks, at clubs and even at home," said Jon Vegosen, USTA Chairman of the Board and President. "Our new collaboration with the First Lady and ‘Let’s Move!’ will help us reach more families to teach them that tennis is easier to learn and access than ever before."

Working with the Office of the First Lady, the USTA is launching a public service announcement to promote tennis as part of the 60 minutes of play a day kids need. The PSA features First Lady Michelle Obama, Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf, all of whom play the role of ballpersons for youngsters playing tennis on courts and with equipment correctly sized for them. Ensuring that children compete with properly sized equipment and on smaller courts is a key component of the USTA’s new 10 and Under Tennis initiative designed to make tennis easier, more accessible and more fun. 10 and Under Tennis is real tennis brought to scale for the sport’s youngest participants, with slower-moving and lower-bouncing balls, lighter and smaller racquets and shorter courts.

The USTA plans to create both a 60-second and a 30-second version of this PSA. Initial plans call for the PSA to be used in tennis programming on CBS Sports, ESPN and Tennis Channel. The PSA will go into broader rotation during the summer months leading up to the US Open, which takes place from August 29 through September 11.

Additionally, the USTA, through its facilities assistance arm, is committed to constructing and renovating 3,000 tennis courts across the country in 2011. As part of this program, all courts that are built or renovated will be lined to enable use in the QuickStart Tennis play format. As part of a public-private partnership, the USTA will build the courts in places where local officials, public parks and schools commit to building tennis into their core programming for kids. The USTA has created a website – USTA.com/facilities – for those groups interested in applying for court construction or renovation and learning more about this major initiative. For more information on 10 & Under Tennis, visit 10andundertennis.com.

In another component of the collaboration, the USTA will use its national resources and programs to encourage 200,000 kids to take the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA), which encourages young Americans to be active 60 minutes a day, five days a week for six weeks in an eight-week period. PALA’s national goal is to get one million youngsters to take this challenge. The USTA plans to activate its National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network, which has 602 chapters impacting more than 250,000 kids, to meet this goal.

"Tennis Night in America" featuring the "BNP Paribas Showdown" on February 28 will serve as the kick-off event for the 2011 tennis season across the country. More than 600 tennis facilities will be participating in the USTA’s third annual National Youth Registration initiative, a month-long event. Tennis Night in America will serve as "opening day" for facilities to sign up children for spring and summer programs, with youth registration events around the country encouraging parents to get involved by volunteering and for everyone to learn more about tennis.

Our new president (well, at any moment now) and his beautiful wife begin inauguration day in style.

'What I Want for You — and Every Child
in America'

By President-elect Barack Obama

Publication Date: 01/14/2009


Dear Malia and Sasha,

I know that you've both had a lot of fun these last two years on the campaign trail, going to picnics and parades and state fairs, eating all sorts of junk food your mother and I probably shouldn't have let you have. But I also know that it hasn't always been easy for you and Mom, and that as excited as you both are about that new puppy, it doesn't make up for all the time we've been apart. I know how much I've missed these past two years, and today I want to tell you a little more about why I decided to take our family on this journey.

When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me-about how I'd make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things I want. But then the two of you came into my world with all your curiosity and mischief and those smiles that never fail to fill my heart and light up my day. And suddenly, all my big plans for myself didn't seem so important anymore. I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I realized that my own life wouldn't count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours. In the end, girls, that's why I ran for President: because of what I want for you and for every child in this nation.

I want all our children to go to schools worthy of their potential-schools that challenge them, inspire them, and instill in them a sense of wonder about the world around them. I want them to have the chance to go to college-even if their parents aren't rich. And I want them to get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give them benefits like health care, jobs that let them spend time with their own kids and retire with dignity.

I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you'll live to see new technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner and safer. And I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the divides of race and region, gender and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other.

Sometimes we have to send our young men and women into war and other dangerous situations to protect our country-but when we do, I want to make sure that it is only for a very good reason, that we try our best to settle our differences with others peacefully, and that we do everything possible to keep our servicemen and women safe. And I want every child to understand that the blessings these brave Americans fight for are not free-that with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation comes great responsibility.

That was the lesson your grandmother tried to teach me when I was your age, reading me the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence and telling me about the men and women who marched for equality because they believed those words put to paper two centuries ago should mean something.

She helped me understand that America is great not because it is perfect but because it can always be made better-and that the unfinished work of perfecting our union falls to each of us. It's a charge we pass on to our children, coming closer with each new generation to what we know America should be.

I hope both of you will take up that work, righting the wrongs that you see and working to give others the chances you've had. Not just because you have an obligation to give something back to this country that has given our family so much-although you do have that obligation. But because you have an obligation to yourself. Because it is only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.

These are the things I want for you-to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world. And I want every child to have the same chances to learn and dream and grow and thrive that you girls have. That's why I've taken our family on this great adventure.

I am so proud of both of you. I love you more than you can ever know. And I am grateful every day for your patience, poise, grace, and humor as we prepare to start our new life together in the White House.


Love, Dad

Somber looking crew...Malia appears to be the only one with something to smile about.

It was a day in which Obama played the role of tourist, seeing the most famous monuments in the nation's capital while experiencing the flavor of the city.

After riding in a motorcade from their temporary home at the Hay-Adams Hotel, Obama, his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha entered the grounds around the memorial shortly after 7 p.m. Bundled in coats in the near-40 degree weather, they walked up the dozens of steps in a close pack and into the memorial.

On Sunday November 16, for the first time since the November 4th election, President-Elect Barack Obama and wife Michelle will sit down together for an interview with with CBS's 60 Minutes.


Actual Interview


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