Tennis Players Serve Elderly Community Through Lessons

As the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, junior and varsity tennis player Jake Hammerman founded Impactful Tennis, an organization dedicated to coaching tennis lessons for a charitable donation to benefit the community.

“I wanted to find a way to help out my community and thought that I could use tennis to make that happen. I knew that many kids, like [myself], had their summer plans canceled and were looking for new activities to fill the void. I began recruiting other instructors to join me and we put together a team that gave lessons in exchange for a charitable donation to Meals on Wheels Diablo Region instead of for-profit,” said Hammerman.

Because of the pandemic’s distinct impact on the senior citizen community, Hammerman reached out to Meals on Wheels “and found out that they were experiencing 40% increased need due to the pandemic.” The charity works to address senior hunger and isolation by delivering nutritious meals directly to their homes, which would prove especially crucial while COVID made it unsafe for high-risk individuals to access stores and restaurants.

Junior Annie Coane, an instructor, noted that, besides her love of teaching children, she thought “it was very important that the money was going towards Meals on Wheels, which helps out thousands of families.”

Over the past 2 summers, Impactful Tennis has raised $23,600 for Meals on Wheels, giving 540 tennis lessons to over 100 students. The team currently consists of 9 instructors, 8 of which are Campolindo students.

Hammerman said, “I think all of our instructors have been so important in making Impactful Tennis as successful as it is. We would not be able to give as many lessons or make as great of an impact on the seniors in our community without all of our teammates volunteering so many of their summer hours to the cause.”

Instructor junior Emma Verprauskus said, “I chose to volunteer for Impactful Tennis because I already have tennis coaching experience and I realized that I could use that to better the community and help Meals on Wheels. I think that offering tennis lessons for a charitable donation will benefit our community because the money goes to a great cause, and it also teaches the kids the importance of giving because you can help people when they may really need help.”

Aside from providing donations to Meals on Wheels, Impactful Tennis has also helped Lamorinda youth to get involved in physical activities, particularly when the pandemic prompted the cancellation of many team sports. Sophomore instructor Diego Ledezma explained that he originally joined the team because “… it also helps get the children of our community into sports.”

Hammerman added, “I think the lessons we are giving are helping inspire interest in tennis in the kids that we teach. Especially the first summer, our tennis lessons really allowed young kids to have an activity and hobby to look forward to when so many options were shut down because of the lockdown.”

Current instructors and team members encourage other tennis players to get involved in the organization; prospective coaches can access an application form on Impactful Tennis’ website. Junior Mattie Ceridono, an instructor, said, “I had a really great time teaching the lessons, and it was both rewarding to help out our community and fun for me to look at tennis from a coach’s standpoint rather than from a player’s.”

The organization has received immense support from the community and beyond, having been featured on major news networks such as Good Morning America and KRON4 San Francisco.

Hammerman said, “My goal for the future would be to keep on growing so that we can continue to help Meals on Wheels and the seniors in our community, as well as help coach the young kids taking our lessons.”

For more information on Impactful Tennis and their mission, or to register for Summer 2022 lessons, visit https://impactfultennis.org/.