DhhEAF Program


Through our introductory schools program students will appreciate that tennis can be a socialization activity, a lifetime fitness/health maintenance vehicle and an instrument to create better students. We seek to affect academic improvements, good citizenship qualities, and self-esteem enhancement. Benefits can be extrapolated into better mental and physical health, and overall well-being.
 
A 2013 Formal Study supports my theories that tennis can help students to perform better inside and outside of school and perhaps create better students (concentration, hard work, creative & critical thinking, etc.).  The Study cuts across cultural as well as socio-economic lines.  Compared against other sports, tennis players got better grades, more students aspired to go to college, they stayed out of the Principal's Office, and the students volunteered more in their communities.  All parents (as well as the Educational Community) should not dismiss this important information.

Parents and siblings are also invited to attend our special event clinics where students can meet peers from other schools. Here, successful DHH adults can offer practical advice about life, schools, growing up, & careers.  Groups are formed in accordance with capabilities where younger DHH children can socialize with adolescents and adults to establish role models. For the slightly older adolescents it is equally important to get some real world feedback from DHH adults on the challenges they will face as they mature.

Students actively participate and have fun learning the game. Their teachers have written letters of endorsement noting enthusiasm, satisfaction, and new levels of self-confidence. From a coach's perspective, their tennis progressions in ball control and stroke production pale in comparison to their personal growth and kids having lots of FUN!
As a universal sport, one could play tennis with anyone in the world. Since language is irrelevant, a person could be anywhere in the world and hit some balls with a new friend. This provides not only for potential socialization opportunities within one's own peer group but also for interaction with different cultures. Age, sex, and socio-economics are irrelevant. This interaction is a forum for communication, understanding and personal growth. Tennis can also provide a meaningful activity for DHH children to interact with their parents or even their grandparents. And 25-50 years from now, it can be a vehicle for them to interact with THEIR children or grandchildren. PRICELESS!!!
On a competitive level tennis presents a physical as well as a mental challenge in that the player must formulate a game plan, have the discipline to execute it and adjust it if the plan is not working. Shall we call it a metaphor for life? In a program benefiting at-risk youth, former NY District Attorney Richard Brown promotes tennis as a great sport with important lessons for the game of life that include the principles of fair play and self control. The first woman to fly in space and an accomplished junior player, Sally Ride, says tennis helped her NASA career because of its emphasis on concentration and sportsmanship.
 
Former tennis pro Pam Shriver of the USTA notes how tennis, when combined with education, is a powerful combination for at-risk youth, is gender- and generational-friendly, and is the perfect lifetime sport to help solve some big issues like child obesity and after school curriculum needs.
The DhhEAF Program is the only way many of our students will ever touch a racket, let alone, get professional instruction.  We seem to make a difference at EVERY class. We harbor hope that the DhhEAF Program can someday exist for every DHH student in the country.
 
DhhEAF is an approved project of Community Partners.
 
 
Web Design Powered By CharityAdvantage.