Tennis: A Social and Cultural Bridge Builder

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 17, 2010

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The Borough of Yeadon, Delaware County, Pa., is a small, ever-evolving diverse community suburb of Philadelphia. It wasn’t always that way.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the community was partially segregated. Black people who applied for membership to the All White Yeadon Swim Club were denied membership.

The constant denials led to a group of local business people and residents to come together and form the Nile Swim club.

The venture became the first owned and operated Black swim club in the United States at the time, gaining much notoriety and news headlines around the country. It was a thriving entity for many years.

It survives barely in today’s struggling economy. On the other hand, the former All White Yeadon Swim Club is now defunct, having fallen on hard times and a depressed economy.

This five-acre property was purchased by the Borough a few years ago for back taxes. In its day, it had an Olympic-sized swimming pool, clubhouse picnic grounds and two tennis courts.

Enter Jeffrey Harmon, a Yeadon resident from Liberia, Africa, and a tennis instructor who is also the founder for the Community Integration Program in Yeadon.

The Borough has a sizable African and African-American population. Over the years, friction due to cultural differences built up.

Mr. Harmon thought that tennis might be a way to ease tensions and begin a dialog of understanding.  He hoped to use the Community Integration Program as a vehicle to bring the two groups together.

He contacted Mr. Roy Hunter, the Recreation Manager for the Borough, and requested to use the two decaying and unused tennis courts at the Yeadon Swim Club property to bring the sport of tennis to the youth in the community.  

Mr. Hunter indicated that the sport of tennis had not been visible in this suburban community for a number of years. Hunter remembered a discussion h...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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