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Emmert joins tennis leaders to emphasize education
NCAA.org
NCAA President Mark Emmert joined leaders from the tennis and education communities on Sept. 4 for a meeting of the United States Tennis Association Presidential Task Force on Tennis and Higher Education.
Among participants in the Sept. 4 meeting were (from left to right) Tom Jacobs and Karin Buchholz of the USTA, Amy Perko from the Knight Commission, Central Missouri President Chuck Ambrose, former USTA President Judy Levering, NCAA President Mark Emmert, current USTA President Jon Vegosen, former New York Mayor David Dinkins, ITA Executive Director David Benjamin, task force vice chair Tiina Smith, Department of Education senior staff member David Whitman, Chicago Art Institute President Walter Massey, Drexel President John Fry and Arizona State professor Tim Russell.
The meeting was held in conjunction with the U.S. Open Tennis Championship in New York. Also attending were Intercollegiate Tennis Association Executive Director David Benjamin, who chairs the task force, and U.S. Department of Education senior staff member David Whitman.
The task force was created “to promote the importance and value of obtaining a college education to every American child, with tennis serving as the sport of opportunity to achieve that goal.” It was established in January under the leadership of USTA board chair and President Jon Vegosen, who has championed tennis as “the sport of opportunity.”
Task force members discussed developing an educational pathway to help guide children from 10-and-Under Tennis through college. Several new projects were also introduced as possibilities that would further promote higher education through tennis.
"We could put in place a player-development system that creates not only champions on the court, but also champions in life,” said Vegosen. “In short, if we were to develop people through tennis, we would inevitably promote and develop the growth of tennis itself."
Among other participants were:
- Tom Jacobs, managing director, administration and business affairs, USTA player development
- Karin Buchholz, USTA director of community outreach and education
- Amy Perko, executive director of the Knight Commission (task force member)
- Chuck Ambrose, president of the University of Central Missouri (task force member)
- Judy Levering, former USTA president (task force member)
- David Dinkins, former mayor of New York and honorary chair of the task force
- Tiina Smith, task force vice chair
- Walter Massey, president of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (task force member
- John Fry, president of Drexel University (task force member)
- Tim Russell, professor of music at Arizona State University (task force member)
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