Today we’d like to introduce you to Albert Richards.
Hi Albert, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My brother John, Junior and me are all products of community courts. We grew up on them and wanted to find a better way to give back. We began by working with a local nonprofits, giving free lessons for 6 week periods and then moving on to the next underserved area and copy and pasted our program.
The kids loved the programming and really didn’t like when the programs ended. We decided to find a better way to have a more broad reach and longer lasting impact on programming.
We spoke to a local USTA representative, Shelly Licorish and she gave us the idea of working with an NJTL, supporting their efforts to grow non traditional sports in underserved areas. That work helped us understand the grant writing process and how we go about applying for, accepting and executing the whole grant process.
Eventually we hit a ceiling and we wanted to expand more. We created our own, the Posh Rock Tennis Foundation and we have since expanded into adaptive and special needs tennis programming. We still support the other Non profits that we have collaborated with in the past and we have great working relationships.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Has not been a smooth road, the biggest obstacle when it comes to growth is always funding, in our experience.
Our goal is to engage in the development of as many youth in the game of tennis as possible. We are only three, so we need assistance in the executing stage of getting the programming going. Finding coaches for these niche areas has been a challenge, but it has also been a lesson in perseverance.
Many locations that we have worked have also downplayed tennis as a viable outreach tool for students in specific demographics. The claims are usually different antiquated stereotypes of the overall cost and look of the game.
After our programming concludes at these same sites the managers are constantly asking when we will be running the program again due to the overwhelming student engagement at their site.
That is why we keep pushing our programs, we know these students can benefit from participating in the world’s healthiest sport.
As you know, we’re big fans of Posh Rock Tennis Foundation. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Posh Rock Tennis Foundation Inc. (PRTF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, youth development organization. Our Mission is to change the trajectory of our Central Florida youth, through comprehensive tennis programming that promotes the physical, educational, and life skills necessary to prepare and empower our underserved youth for success.
Tennis benefits every area in which it exists. The impacts are not only felt by the increasingly positive health benefits but also the economic impact it provides. Being an NJTL we and our students, have access to a myriad of programming from the USTA that promotes everything from high performance tennis playing opportunities, college scholarships to meet and greets with professional players. We have tapped into all of these avenues with our students and working toward engaging more students.
We have had an extremely good relationship with Special Olympics Florida, Orange County. John Richards is the Director of tennis for special Olympics Florida Orange County and we have had the number one SO tennis athlete in the country and the number two tennis athlete in the world. We are extremely proud of that and of Brittany.
We want your readers to know that we need help in executing our mission goals. We want a more healthy Central Florida.
Our programs do not stop at tennis we have a nutrition partner in HEBNI Nutrition and we are looking for financial literacy partners to round out our programming. We also need volunteers, currently we have 3 Special needs programs running and one afterschool program. If any readers would like to get involved we can be reached at the Fort Gatlin Tennis center, our home bases for all our programming 407-254-9878
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
USTA (United States Tennis Association), supports many of our programs and student experiences.
RTT league(Carlos Guerrero), they have come in huge for us, portions of their tournaments and leagues are donated to the PRTF. Lets make their tournaments as successful as possible.
Shelly Licorish, Started us on this NJTL journey.
HEBNI nutrition, got us started in grant writing and executing our first funded programs.
Pricing:
- Most programs are free
Contact Info:
- Website: https://poshrockfoundation.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poshrocktennisfoundation/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePoshRockFoundation/
