For over two decades, USTA Colorado’s Star Search program developed, nurtured and promoted the tennis and leadership skills of identified youth from culturally-diverse communities who demonstrated a passion for and commitment to tennis, but didn’t necessarily have resources available for coaching.
Through quality instruction, the free program provided a platform for players in the metro-Denver area to further develop tennis skills and expand their involvement in more formal competitive play including Junior Team Tennis, high school tennis and sanctioned tournament play. The leadership component of the program focused on concepts like respect, responsibility, teamwork and service, just to name a few.
A goal for years has been to expand the Star Search concept to other geographic areas of the state and impact more kids and coaches to create a network of public tennis offerings that offer comprehensive programs for youth development both on and off the court. In 2018, this dream became a reality thanks to family foundation donations to USTA Colorado’s fundraising arm, the Colorado Youth Tennis Foundation. An infusion of dollars became available to develop and initiate the expansion.
The rebranded program USTA Colorado SERVES officially launched in 2018, and is a partnership between USTA Colorado and the CYTF. SERVES is an acronym for: Success, Education, Respect, Values, Excellence and Self-Confidence and these principles are built into the fabric of the program — a program that incorporates more than just tennis. Athletic skills development as well as learning and practicing life and leadership skills round out our holistic approach for youth development.
“We couldn’t be more grateful for the funding support and are excited about all that’s possible with the expansion designed to positively impact even more youth in communities across Colorado,” said USTA Colorado and CYTF Associate Executive Director, Lisa Schaefer.
“We’re humbled by the financial support and trust family foundation representatives have placed in us by their gifts,” said Schaefer. “This initiative dovetails beautifully with our overall goals to reach out to more communities, to make our sport more accessible to people of all backgrounds and to focus on expanding our base through youth tennis — so our sport can flourish and benefit more people and communities for decades to come.
Again this year, as part of the SERVES support, satellite program partners have received grant dollars to help offset costs associated with the day to day running of their programs. Additional support and resources in the form of coaches’ trainings, leadership skills curriculum, program consulting, player scholarship and event assistance that will help enhance their program offerings will be added. “We held our Program Leader Summit in February again, and selected partner leaders participated from all three programs to connect and share ideas. It was a great way to kick things off,” said Cindy MacMaster, USTA Colorado’s Director of Player Development, who oversees SERVES. “Each satellite program has different needs, and we’re meeting each one where they are in order to best help set them up for success,” she also said. 2019 SERVES partners include — Tennis Center at Steamboat Springs, Tennis for Kids and Denver Tennis Park.