Flashback to February 2020: The USTA Colorado boardroom was packed.
SERVES program leaders mixed alongside staff from the CYTF and USTA Colorado as well as folks from the USTA Foundation who had flown in for the SERVES Leadership Summit.
Times were different just a year and a few months ago – facemasks were for skiing and social distancing meant staying off of Instagram for a few hours.
The topic of conversation was the upcoming SERVES 2020 season.
SERVES stands for Success, Education, Respect, Values, Excellence and Self-Confidence, and those principles are built into the fabric of the program.
A joint partnership between the CYTF and USTA Colorado, SERVES is made possible in large part due to support from donors who believe in the program. The partnership extends to local communities where providers integrate tennis programming alongside life and leadership development for youth from under-resourced communities.
The room was electric as providers shared best practices from the previous season and gushed about how young people in their communities are growing through SERVES. There was a great deal of excitement for the upcoming season!
Just a few weeks later, the exuberance of that day would dissipate into the realities of a global pandemic and the uncertainty of statewide lockdowns.
Programming returned to action when community restrictions eased, once again providing kids a safe place to learn and play.
SERVES at the Denver Tennis Park operations began in July and ran weekly on Saturday afternoons for the remainder of 2020. Another exciting development was that Denver area CYTF scholarship recipients were invited to participate in SERVES and became even more engaged in the sport.
Steamboat Springs SERVES conducted all but two meetings of the spring session prior to the shutdown. While the tennis center was closed, the program leader checked in with each of the kids, and shared at-home tennis activity ideas to keep them engaged. The second SERVES session was held in the fall of 2020.
A look forward to 2021 – In addition to SERVES programs in Steamboat Springs and Denver, the CYTF and USTA Colorado are excited to announce the expansion into Colorado Springs in 2021. Stay tuned to future newsletters where we’ll take a deeper dive into each of the programs.
Watch our SERVES video here.