How a tennis program and mentors have changed the lives of underserved kids in Miami

James Champion used to conceal his tennis racket while on the bus.

Champion, who grew up in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, learned tennis at age 13, which is a late start for the sport.

“I played football and basketball, and I ran track,” Champion said. “Tennis was considered not a good game for African-American kids like me. That’s why I hid my racket in a suit bag.”

Champion lost his father when he was just 11. Two years later, he joined the Harlem Tennis Association, learning the sport at New York’s Central Park.

He got so good that Champion earned a scholarship to play tennis at Alabama A&M University.

More than six decades later, Champion, 76, is on the other side of things, mentoring underserved youth as part of First Serve Miami.

The organization, which is headquartered at Miami’s Moore Park, offers free year-round tennis coaching and guidance for kids ages 5 to 18.

But First Serve Miami, with Champion as its chairman of the board, is about much more than tennis. The group also focuses on education and teaches kids life skills.

“Our program is a vehicle to support kids — especially those of color — who don’t have the means to be exposed to tennis,” Champion said.

In good company

Angie Rivera, the interim executive director of First Serve Miami, said she was thrilled when 19-year-old Coco Gauff won her first U.S. Open title last month.

Gauff, who is from Delray Beach, is Black, and she is inspiring other young people of color.

“Because of her win,” Rivera said, “we are getting a much higher rate of sign-ups for tennis.”

Champion said First Serve Miami has a great relationship with the people who run the Miami Open and also some of the tennis stars who compete in the annual tournament.

Several of those retired or active stars have come to Moore Park to play tennis with the kids at First Serve Miami.

That list includes Serena Williams, who won 23 Grand Slam women’s single titles to rank second all-time; Venus Williams, who won five Wimbledon titles and two U.S. Opens; Frances Tiafoe, who was ranked top-10 in the world earlier this year; James Blake, who led the USA to the 2007 Davis Cup championship; and Andy Murray, who was the No. 1 player in the world in 2016.

How First Serve started

Rivera said First Serve Miami’s roots go back to 1974. That’s when Charles Passarell and the legendary Arthur Ashe started the National Junior Tennis League of Miami at Moore Park with the goal of introducing the sport to young kids.

In 2006, the organization changed its name to First Serve Miami. In 2008, the organization started its “Adopt a Player” program, giving economically challenged yet talented kids the opportunity to compete in tennis tournaments throughout the country.

And, since 2010, 54 graduates of the program have gone on to play college tennis — at schools such as Stanford, Princeton and Penn — on a full or partial scholarship.

First Serve Miami is growing. Backed by the United States Tennis Association Foundation, the program has expanded to 20 South Florida parks.

“In the fall of 2021,” Rivera said, “we launched a pilot program offering free tennis lessons for six weeks for kids ages 5 to 17.”

Rivera said most of the kids in First Serve Miami start with the program early, age 10 or younger, and they stay until they graduate high school.

After, many of them return and volunteer as mentors and coaches.

Familiar mentors

Cynthia Diaz, 28, is a mentor who has a history with the program.

Diaz was 13 when she and her single mother arrived in Miami from Cuba. Because her mom worked two jobs and also took night-time classes to learn English, Diaz needed somewhere to go after school.

That somewhere soon became First Serve Miami, and she got so good at tennis that she was able to secure a full scholarship to St. Thomas University.

While she was in college, Diaz had an internship with First Serve Miami, learning the administrative side of things. And now that she is a 28-year-old business woman. She works as a Latin American sales manager for Techtronic Industries and volunteers with First Serve Miami, coaching the next generation.

“I’m teaching them how to grab their first racket,” Diaz said.

Diaz said tennis taught her a lot of life lessons. In singles, with no one else around, she learned how to solve problems on the fly. She also learned how to win with humility and how to lose with dignity and respect.

At first, having never played tennis in Cuba, learning the sport was hard.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Diaz said. “It was overwhelming. But, after a while, I started to feel at home, and tennis became fun. The program made it easier for me to connect with people and learn English.

“If not for First Serve Miami, I wouldn’t have had the money to play tournament tennis,” she said. “I never would have earned a tennis scholarship, and that means I wouldn’t have gone to college or have the job I have. ... Changed my life.”

For more information

What: First Serve Miami, provides free, year-round tennis, education and life skills for youths 5 to 18.

Where: Moore Park, 765 NW 36th St., Miami, 33127

When: 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. There is also a nine-week summer camp for kids from 5 to 12 from the second week of June to the second week of August, which goes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For older kids, there’s a boot-camp option.

Contact: 305 365-6346.