Play to Grow’s Mission
Our mission is to empower underserved youth in grades K-8 through the sport of tennis.
We believe that sports like tennis will teach kids important life skills such as teamwork, confidence, leadership, sportsmanship, and mental resilience.
We are on a mission to increase access to tennis and its benefits.
Our Team
Play to Grow’s coach team consists of high school tennis players across Illinois.
If you’re interested in getting involved, please email us at playtogrowclub@gmail.com.
Smiles from a Play to Grow camp session, summer of 2021
How We Started
Play to Grow’s founder Nicole Hu is an avid tennis player and Junior at Hinsdale Central who has been playing tennis since 2008 and teaching tennis lessons to kids in her community since 2018.
Play to Grow began as a result of the Covid pandemic. Nicole realized that tennis was one of the few activities accessible during the pandemic because it’s outdoors and socially distant. Playing tennis provided her with many transferrable skills, like confidence and mental resiliency, and she wanted to pass this (and a love of the game) to kids who may not otherwise have access to similar opportunities. Thus, Play to Grow was born.