December 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 38

Adams works to ensure that youth
nationwide have the opportunity to play
tennis and develop important life skills.
national tournaments. They afforded
me the opportunity to play on
the USTA collegiate teams in the
summers, where I went and played
the pro circuit events. So that's
when I really started to say, " Oh,
wow! They are much bigger than
this. Much bigger than just tournaments. "
And I felt obligated...to
give back. I wanted to give back because
if they gave me the opportunity
that I had, then I felt obligated
to go and give these same opportunities
to thousands of other kids to
let them know that " hey, the USTA
is a great place and [it's] an opportunity
you can have - not to just
be a professional tennis player, but
this is a sport for life. And look at
the life skills that you're learning
and the friends that you can make
and have for a lifetime. "
So that's how I
got
involved
on the board. And then, as I progressed
over the years and became
more knowledgeable and became
more aware [of] who we were, then
I started to say, " I've lived this. I'm
like the poster child of the USTA. I
ate, slept, breathed everything that
we stand for, and I have a lot to offer:
to give back, to be that voice, to
provide the strategic vision of who I
think we should be and can be. " That
propelled me to want to be the leader
of the USTA and [at the time] I had
wished I had the opportunity to be
the president and chairman.
P&R: What are the physical and
mental health benefits that
tennis offers today's youth?
Adams: There's a study out right
now [tinyurl.com/5n9xskjz] that
[found] tennis adds 9.7 years to
your life - more than any other
sport that's out there. I think badminton
is second and then [soccer].
So, we like to say, " Play tennis, live
longer. " That's kind of our mantra
right now. It strengthens your heart,
muscles and bones. It allows you to
get fit, lose weight [and] burn calories.
I mean...tennis [is] the healthiest
sport out there. [It] keeps you
physically fit, but mentally healthier
as well. And, anytime you can
promote something that is going to
allow you to live longer, that right
there allows you to mentally feel
stronger and you want to be more
engaged. It's reducing stress levels;
you can go out there and release
the stress on the court. But it [also]
teaches you how to solve problems,
which is what we teach our kids.
It's teaching them how to be able to
be more disciplined, to build their
self-esteem, to build self-confidence,
to manage [their] time and be more
tactical, more strategic. And these
are all the things that they need to
be successful in life. And so, these
are all, in my opinion, health benefits
that have been proven. It's a
mind, body and soul sport.
P&R: During your tenure at
the organization, you led
outreach into underrepresented
communities to introduce tennis
to youth. What misconceptions
about the sport did you
encounter among community
members and how did you break
down those barriers to achieve
your goals?
Adams: I think the misconceptions
are that it's an expensive sport, it's
only for the rich and it's a country
club sport when, in fact, the majority
of tennis is played in parks.
And people don't
really realize
that parks and recreation plays a
huge [role] in helping our sport
grow. When you think about the
baby boomer years, everybody was
playing tennis in the parks. And I
think people have gone back to that
- particularly since [COVID-19]
- getting back out in the parks
and getting back out in their communities
and playing tennis and
being active because they can be
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | DECEMBER 2 0 2 3
| Parks & Recreation
39
PHOTO COURTESY OF DARRY NASH
http://tinyurl.com/5n9xskjz
December 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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