Empowering Youth through Tennis & Education
We Strive For Success On and Off The Court!
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GTA & YDA have served over 15,000 students and adults in schools and communities stretching from Cullman, AL, to Florence, AL, and as far as Winchester, TN.
Most notably, one of our student-players, D’Aqarrius (DQ) Poole, graduated from Columbia High School in 2021 and received a total of $14,000 in education scholarship funds from the United States Tennis Association Foundation and Southern Tennis Foundation.
In addition, other 2021 graduates from the College Academy at Mae Jemison High School received full academic scholarships to The University of Alabama – Huntsville: Emery Murphy and Noa Williams.
In 2021, we led a high school tennis camp for the Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering on the campus of Oakwood University. In 2019, we hosted a high school tennis camp for New Hope at Columbia High School in Research Park.
Alison Gladness, who played No. 1 Singles/Doubles for the Buckhorn High School tennis team, received an academic/tennis scholarship to Alabama A&M University.
Furthermore, two of our students/players were awarded a tennis scholarship to The University of Alabama – Huntsville, and another received an academic scholarship to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. These accomplished individuals are graduates of Bob Jones High School: Darren McGlynn and Ashely Robin, respectively.
Notably, Greg Folker, another Bob Jones High School graduate, followed in the footsteps of Coach Garrett. While in college, he completed his coaching certification and became a teaching pro/tennis instructor.
Lastly, Jayden Hyter, a 2020 Lee High School graduate, is a high school/college summer staff instructor and is currently attending The University of North Alabama.
Help us empower the next generation of leaders in Huntsville, Alabama. Your donation can provide tennis equipment, educational materials, and scholarships for our students. Together, we can make a difference.
We as a family generally keep to ourselves in today’s environment but one day our son brought us a tennis flyer and said he wanted to play. We jumped on the opportunity and were soon introduced to Coach Alvie Garrett.
As the tennis season progressed Coach Garrett expressed the talent our son had and how he could benefit from one on one coaching, mentoring, and camps that YDA has to offer. We were thrust into a new world and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Youth Development Association has opened doors we never knew existed and showed us a talent our son didn’t know he had and we are so thankful to Coach Garrett.
Without Coach Garrett going into the schools, passing out flyers and introducing tennis to the students, we wouldn’t have known about YDA or been apart of it.
Keara Cook-Holt
