Managing Equipment Donations at EPATT, July 26, 31 August 2, 2017 (Clark)

Clark Safran

July 26, July 30 August 2 2017, 9am - 1pm

Susan Lynch

2017 EPATT Kids Cup Chair and EPATT Board Member

Supervisor contact info: susan.lynch@epatt.org or 650-766-4576

I collected, gripped, and strung tennis racket donations for the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring organization.

I have worked at EPATT a multitude of times since my Freshman year. My freshman year, I taught clinics and fed balls to the kids. For my sophomore year, I participated in a project to fundraise for the organization, called Aces 4 Kidz, which helped raise over 20,000 dollars for EPATT. This year there was an identifiable need in the organization for higher quality and greater quantity of rackets, so I decided to contribute this time to the equipment needs. One misconception about this year was that obtaining, stringing, and gripping racket donations for EPATT was going to be easier, less hectic, and less impactful than helping in clinics or participating in Aces 4 Kidz, when in reality, it was much harder and more valuable.

At first, the project was super hard because I never learned how to string rackets. It took me over 6 hours to figure out how to string my first racket because the string kept snapping and I always made a little mistake, which would cause me to restart the entire project. In the beginning, I was extremely frustrated that it took me so long to string the rackets. But after I got better at stringing and gripping the rackets, I started to enjoy the work because of the reward to come. The program will continue with better equipment and as a tennis player myself, I know the great difference quality equipment can make.

I definitely feel like I am having an impact on the organization as a whole. Tennis is a hard enough sport without damaged equipment. Overused grips cause your hand to slip and poor strings can lead to balls being miss hit. Most importantly, cracked and old rackets can lead to entire game changes from constantly miss hitting the ball to hurting one’s arm. By collecting and improving the equipment used at EPATT I feel like I can help the kids feel better about tennis, which they have dedicated so much time to, and therefore hopefully have them feel better about themselves.