Tennisopolis : Tennis Social Network

Racquets For Ghana! - Project Launch

Hi Tennisopolites,

It is the start of a new year and the start of something great:  Racquets For Ghana!

Recently we gained a new member named AA Majeed that is doing great work in northern Ghana.  Majeed is spreading the game of tennis and bringing happiness to the economically disadvantaged children there.

I think this is a great cause, so Majeed and I launched this project to collect used (and new) tennis gear for these children in Ghana that are playing with makeshift wooden paddles and old tennis balls. The pictures are worth a thousand words. Hopefully we can generate some interest (and a stack of kids racquets for that matter.) Here are the details and pictures.

So, please look through your closets, talk to your tennis friends, scour the local thrift stores, post on your local craigslist "wanted" section, and collect a stack of racquets and/or shoes to send to our headquarters in Maryland. 

Thanks for your help.

Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on February 5, 2013 at 4:29pm

Anyone here on board to collect Racquets?  It is actually a lot of fun checking the thrift stores and hitting garage sales.  Would love to hear about other people's scores.  My son and I have already collected about 5 racquets in no time!  Will post some pics soon.

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on February 9, 2013 at 9:58am

A quick update from here.  I have 4 racquets, and a promise of 4 more.  We have another guy here in the ABQ area collecting for RFG! and I met someone online who has said that he is collecting too.

A generous woman here in ABQ has donated this stringer to RFG! - It is an older stringer, probably worth about 200 bucks. (Mjeed, do you think it will be useful to you?)

Gamma 600FC

Permalink Reply by chan ong teng on June 10, 2013 at 10:55am

whoever donated this stringer was very generous. this will benefit the cause greatly. i might have acess to a few nets are they were replaced with new ones when a middle school in las vegas had their courts resurfaced a few years ago. just let me know

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on June 10, 2013 at 11:13am

OK, Great!  I will check with AA and see if he needs them - I imagine he will say "definitely!"

Thanks so much,

Mark

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on June 10, 2013 at 11:52pm

I was right.  They totally need the nets!How many are you talking about?

To save on shipping charges, they can be shipped to US instead of Ghana:

Racquets For Ghana!
c/o Abdul-Majeed Abdulai
9578 Muirkirk Rd #302
Laurel, MD 20708

Let me know if you need any help from me.

Thanks again for this great donation!

M

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on February 9, 2013 at 11:19am

Post a message like this on your local craigslist Wanted section.  It works great!:

Hi. I'm gathering kids tennis gear for a disadvantaged youth program. I can pick up at your convenience. The kids will absolutely love any donation that you can make.

We mostly need:
kids racquets
kids sports shoes

If you need more information, please let me know.
Email, call or text me.


Thank you,
Mark

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on March 3, 2013 at 10:24am

We just found a couple of more racquets!  Found this at a local junk shop.  The shop wanted 5 bucks a piece and they had mismatched covers on them.  We explained RFG to the owner and told her we didn't need the covers, and she was nice enough to sell the pair to us for 6 bucks!  Throw them in the stack!

http://tennisopolis.com/ghana

Permalink Reply by A A MAJEED on March 4, 2013 at 11:16pm

wooooow that really sounds good to hear.....i have also received some old tennis balls from a friend so far...

Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on March 18, 2013 at 1:41pm

Old tennis balls are very easy to find, but I think since they are heavy they will be very expensive to ship.  I wonder if there is a better way to get you balls.  By the way, the red, orange and green balls are much lighter than yellow.... maybe we should focus on these types.

Permalink Reply by A A MAJEED on March 18, 2013 at 10:42pm

Exactly.....i taught of the those balls but since that was wht the person is donating to me i could not reject but like you said the orange and red balls will be more appropriate.Hope all is going on well with you...Last i spoke with my club Chairman back in Ghana about the step we have taken to help develop the game in the Northern part of Ghana.He was so happy to hear from me.

Permalink Reply by A A MAJEED on March 4, 2013 at 11:11pm

Mark that is really awesome ....

Permalink Reply by phillip k. on May 28, 2013 at 9:58am

wow this is a cool idea.  I just returned from Africa 2 months ago (the Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau) where I was shooting a documentary on Medical relief teams setting up free clinics.  The kids we met were joyful playful and looking for fun ways to use all their energy.  Some of the kids were going through the trash and making slingshots out of the tops of plastic bottles and rubber glove fingers.  It was creative and ingenious and terribly unsanitary sorry to say. 

While in Africa I looked everywhere I had time to try to play tennis there!  I thought it would be so cool to just hit a couple balls on african soil, but could not find a single place.  Not even in the rich neighborhoods where the European tourists stay.  I didn't have much time so I am sure I just missed it but didn't see anything around.  Its encouraging that AA Majeed has a passion for the game.  Is there any video footage of what is happening there? Is this an NGO? would love to hear more!

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