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Episode:#37 Shaun Boyce & Bobby Schindler

In this episode we talk to Jonathan Hart who has taken the reigns of Coach Wink’s trips taking Atlanta kids to the US Open and Arthur Ashe’s Kids Day every year.

They need your help DONATE HERE: https://www.gofundme.com/f/tennis-kids-to-new-york-2023

You can sponsor one child for $500 but if you want to donate more please don’t hesitate and chip in whatever you can even if you only have a few dollars to spare.

Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day at the US Open https://www.usopen.org/en_US/visit/arthur_ashe_kids_day_powered_by_net_generation.html

Shaun Boyce USPTA: [email protected]

https://tennisforchildren.com/ ๐ŸŽพ

Bobby Schindler USPTA: [email protected]

https://windermerecommunity.net/ ๐ŸŽพ

Geovanna Boyce: [email protected]

https://regeovinate.com/ ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‹๏ธ

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Transcript
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(upbeat music)

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Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

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Every episode is titled, "It starts with tennis"

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and goes from there.

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We talk with coaches, club managers,

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industry business professionals, technology experts,

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and anyone else we find interesting.

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We wanna have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.

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(soft music)

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- Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,

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powered by GoTennis!

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Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta tennis events

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at LetsGoTennis.com,

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where you can also find deals on equipment, apparel,

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and members get 10% off our shop.

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So get yourself an Atlanta tennis monster's shirt.

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I've got mine and I wear it all the time.

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In this episode, we talk to Jonathan Hart,

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who is raising money to take some kids from Atlanta,

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all the way to the US Open.

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The GoFundMe link is in the show notes.

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So Go Donate and then have a listen

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and let us know what you think.

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(soft music)

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- We are talking today with Jonathan Hart

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and we have just heard a little bit about his story.

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I don't have my head fully wrapped around it yet, Jonathan.

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You've got Coach Wink, who maybe started it

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and he was doing a lot of the handling of this kind of thing,

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taking kids to the US Open.

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I think Eric Jackson has himself involved a little bit.

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So what I wanna do is say, Jonathan,

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please tell us about who you are and what is going on

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when getting these kids to the US Open.

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- Okay, well, my name is Jonathan Hart

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but as of late, it's been changed to Coach Hart

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but we've been taking kids to the US Open.

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I think the first year was 2013.

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This will be our eighth year taking them.

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Of course, we had a couple years we couldn't go

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because they had no attendance at the US Open during the pandemic.

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What happened was Coach Wink had taken the kids to first year.

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Then the second year he went to take them

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at the last minute they got canceled.

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I said, why?

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He says, well, we just didn't get enough money to go.

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I said, okay, that's not gonna happen again.

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So from that point, I came on in 2014.

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So we did, from that point on, from 15 all the way up

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and to now every year, we have made it happen.

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Again, the only thing that stopped us was the pandemic.

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Well, Coach Wink teach a lot of kids.

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I mean, he's sent a lot of kids to college

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but his forte was really smaller kids,

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which I kinda take care of now, okay?

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But this guy was a gym.

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I mean, he just affects so many lives

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and you know when you're dealing with a smaller kid,

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you're doing some mentoring big time.

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And I mean, just to keep them focused is a job.

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But yeah, so that's how it got started

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and it's just got bigger and bigger and better and better.

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And this year we're trying to make it bigger and better

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than ever in his memory.

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So yeah, that's how it got started and that's how I got involved.

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Okay, so you were helping raise funds?

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That was kinda your role?

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- At first, all I did was sponsor and raise funds,

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and then I would go on the trip and manage during the trip.

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So that was, I'm kinda good with kids

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and getting them all together.

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And when you look at the video, that's me

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on there getting everybody all hyped up and would have you.

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So that's what I would do.

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'Cause me, I'm a player.

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You see all these awards?

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I'm a national player.

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I travel all over the country playing tennis.

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That's what I like to do.

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But like I said, here recent in this last year or so,

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I am doing a lot of coaching.

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- Okay, and so how many kids you got this year?

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What's the target?

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We gotta get a number of kids?

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How much money do we need?

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Where are we because you're leaving soon, right?

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- Yes, we're leaving real soon.

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The number of kids is gonna be somewhere right above

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between 30 and 40, maybe 36.

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It's gonna be somewhere up in that number, okay?

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'Cause we always get some last people fall out

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and then some more people jump on.

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I just had a lady today.

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Oh my God, I've been trying to get a hold of you.

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I can't, you know, I gotta get my kid there.

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Okay, we got you, all right?

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But so yeah, that's the number.

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And what we're trying to raise is about 17,000

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that will get us over the hump, okay?

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And every day we're getting lower and lower.

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So yeah, that's about what's going on.

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- Okay, and what is that?

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And I wanna dive too much so we're giving

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any what number per kid that kind of thing.

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But what does that look like from a cost point of view?

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It's not just, you're not putting all these kids,

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are you putting them on a bus?

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Are you putting them on a flight?

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You have to have hotels?

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But what does that look like?

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- We go on a bus and boy, do we have fun on that bus?

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(laughs)

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We have a ball, we got some great movies,

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we got some great games, some great trivia, you know?

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And then of course we have some sleep time too.

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After we eat everybody falls asleep overnight.

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But the bus takes us up there and back.

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But we need the bus because when we get there,

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while we're there, like all during the day,

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we're at the Billie Jean Tennis Center, okay?

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And then we go to New York.

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Like we already have our Chenuary, our first day there,

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we'll be authorized kids day.

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Then we'll go to the concert,

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after the concert, we'll go to ground zero and freedom tower.

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- Nice.

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- And it's a lot of history there

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and a lot of kids don't really understand that today,

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actually see it, okay?

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So, and then the next day,

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we come to Pro Day, to me is what's like the best day

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because you can get right next to the Pro's, talk to them,

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unless they're Serena or Josephus,

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they got too much security.

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Otherwise, you can, you know, they'll talk.

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So we have made an appointment

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and it has been offered to us.

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We're gonna watch Coco practice

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and she's gonna do a meet and greet for us.

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Chris UBanks, who also came to our program,

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he's gonna meet and greet

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and he did that last year.

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He hit where our kids last year, okay?

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And we also have,

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Jermaine Jenkins has invited us out

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to a practice and meet and greet with ClareVic.

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I can't say her last name.

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You know, she won the Wilton Junior Grand Slam.

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- Right.

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- And I didn't mention but Jermaine Jenkins is now with Coco.

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So that's how we got that.

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He told us, hey, I can hook you up

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and he came through our program too,

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and they were little guys.

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- Nice, I've always found it's not who I know

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but it's who knows me.

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Like, I can't say I know that.

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I didn't answer part of that

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and the part I missed was this,

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it's $500 a kid, okay?

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- Okay.

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- Absolutely the parent pays that for the kid, okay?

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The ones that can afford it,

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some we have to make a way, all right?

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But that takes care of all your transportation.

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Take care of your hotel.

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We're staying at the beautiful graduate on Roosevelt Island,

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okay?

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And it takes care of your first round tickets

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and all the events we go to,

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when we go to Freedom Tower and, you know,

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and then we tour Harlem and our dinners already paid for

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at Melbus Restaurant.

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So for 54 people, so that's super great.

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- Sure, very nice.

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- And we ate their last year too, so.

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- Okay.

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- They're expecting us.

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And then the middle day, which is pro practice day,

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after at the end of that day,

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we take them and we try to stay late,

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so it gets dark and we take them to Times Square

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so they can experience Times Square at night,

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get to shop, you know,

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and frolic a little bit,

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then we go hit the hotel because the next day is opening day

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for the US Open.

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- And the first week, I heard this rumor,

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so you're buying tickets for the first round,

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but the first week in qualifying,

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those are free at the US Open.

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Don't they do a pretty good job

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of free events that first qualifying week?

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- Yes, but, you know, our kids are starting school

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so we can't take them up and keep them that long, okay?

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So they said--

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- Tennis is way more important than school, come on.

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(laughs)

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- They miss a day as it stands.

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So we, yeah, but you're right,

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the qualifying are free,

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but the day we arrived there,

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which is after ass kids day,

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is probably the second biggest day of the event.

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It is crazy, it's a madhouse.

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And it was great for us last year,

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'cause like I say, Chris, you banks hit with some of our kids.

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I think I sent you the video,

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if not, I'll send it to you.

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- Yeah.

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- And that's the kind of experience you can have

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if you get on the bus with us and go up there,

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that's the kind of thing that can happen for you.

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- I like it.

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And this is, so you have some families that pay for it,

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meaning if I have 500 bucks, I can send my kid,

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but if I don't have, if I don't have,

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let's say I don't have my own kid,

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or if I'm looking at donating,

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I'm trying to figure out how to help you raise the funds

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and say, okay, I wanna sponsor a kid, it's $500,

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but that's, you know what, everybody's got 10 bucks,

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which is really how you make something like this happen,

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is getting more people giving what's in their pocket right now

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that they can really, not everybody has a $500 to get.

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- Right, and that's what you see on our Gold Fund,

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and you see some people donate 500, $200, $10, 25,

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the average is about 40 or 50, okay,

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but after we collect all the fees from the parents

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and shaper loans who want to pay to go to, also,

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'cause that's a really cheap price to go to New York,

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and stay there and get all that for $500.

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And the guy from New York definitely knows that.

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But, but, yeah, so after we collect all the fees,

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we, that's about two thirds of what it costs.

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So then we need to have sponsorship and other money

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to make everything else happen.

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- Gotcha, and you get to talk to, as we spoke earlier,

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you've got some businesses involved,

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some local businesses that help out

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and other funding?

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- Yes, we have one, couple sponsors already,

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our sponsorships, the platinum is $5,000,

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our gold is $3,000, and the silver is $1,000,

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we have one business coming in at $3,000,

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the city of Atlanta is also a sponsor,

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we're waiting to hear from the mayor's office,

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but we got a city councilman,

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I got to shoot him out his props,

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Byron Amos, councilman Amos,

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he's gone for $4,000,

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constituent services, I met with them yesterday,

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so they asked me to send them a overnight letter,

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I did that, so maybe they will give us some more.

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And, but we met with several businesses yesterday,

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and the next few days,

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I'm expecting some of them to come in.

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- Nice, so what's the offer there?

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'Cause, everybody's got a little more experience

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with the sponsorships side of things than I do,

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but looking at numbers and looking at a business,

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as an example, if we were to come in and say,

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hey, we'd like to give you,

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we'd like to help you with this event,

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a business is gonna sometimes just say,

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here's some money we love to help kids,

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but also there's an exposure that those businesses are,

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where's my logo go?

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And when do I get my backlink to my website for my SEO?

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Do you have answers to some of those questions

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in a package that you hand out, or how does that work?

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- Yeah, I have all those answers,

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they're in the package,

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but since we're talking on the podcast now,

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we're a 501(c)(3)

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okay, so it's a tax write off, available for you, okay?

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We will put you on all our social media,

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we will also thank you, the kids will thank you on video,

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and so your t-shirt to be there will work,

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'cause we're gonna get a lot of video coverage

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when we were Coco and Chris, especially,

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probably ClareVit too.

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Actually, one of our kids,

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she's about 17, I think, one of our kids is,

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I suppose to actually hit with ClareVit,

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so that would be fantastic.

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Oh yeah.

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Very good, her name is Cherish.

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I can't remember Cherish's last name, but she's a baller.

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So, yeah, but the businesses,

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they get all the bells and whistles that we can provide.

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- Gotcha, yeah, 'cause sometimes the numbers

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is say, okay, well, my logo's on the back of the shirt,

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you get all those questions, but say,

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look, we're gonna do videos,

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we're putting it out on social media,

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which seems to be a thing that everybody likes,

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'cause we like to connect,

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we like that engagement,

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and everybody likes to see kids happy and watchin' tennis.

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- Yes.

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Like, we just can't wait to thank go tennis

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when we get this done.

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We can't wait.

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- Well, we're lookin' to try and figure out

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how to get involved as well.

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Right now, I'm in the back counting

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how many hats I have, okay.

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Can we get all the kids in hats?

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What does that look like?

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- Okay, okay, but,

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well, Capelli, who did the T-shirts for Atlanta open

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are wearing talks with them.

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And it seems like they wanna sponsor our T-shirts.

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- Nice.

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- I hope to confirm that today,

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but they have reached out to us and we have been talkin'.

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- Nice.

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- Because we're a really big presence.

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They expect us every year.

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When you got 40 to 60 people,

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and we're chatin', the whole stadium stops

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and lookin' right at us.

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They always put us on the train of tron, okay.

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And when they're practicing,

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people like Coppots, he stops and waves,

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and you know, Jermaine, we went to,

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four years ago, he was the head coach,

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and he called for Naomi Osaka.

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So we got to go to her practice

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and she seemed very nice to us.

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We have some really strong connections

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and some really good guys that came through our program.

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- Yeah, and you can't get away with it.

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You can't do this without those kinds of people,

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and without the people helping.

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It's just nice.

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And you said, "You banks came through your program."

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That's kind of the last thing I wanna touch on.

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What does that mean?

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- When he, okay, put it like this.

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When all the little African-American kids were coming up

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and when they were kids,

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like I say, Coach Wing specialized in kids,

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we're talkin' five, six, seven, eight, nine, okay.

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They all came to Washington Park in McGee-Tenacenter

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that was the only place they had, okay.

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Then as they got better,

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they would move out to Mr. Peterson,

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or Joel Peterson out there in a bird-head park

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in South Fulton, and so on and so forth.

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You just step up the ladder, but you started through there.

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So they all came through that program.

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So that's what we mean.

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- Gotcha, okay.

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Yeah, I think it's-- - Coach Wing has put his hands

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on all of them.

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- Yeah, it's good, 'cause he had a,

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I was lookin' into him recently.

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He had a profound impact on kids, Tennis and Atlanta.

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- Absolutely, absolutely.

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When I used to sponsor him and give him money,

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I could go to sleep at night,

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'cause I knew it was gonna be hand-to-write

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for the right thing.

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He tried to show me, he was saying, "Leave me alone, okay.

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"Let's get these kids there."

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We got a lot more to do to deal with that.

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It was great work on him,

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and it was just a shock when he passed at that early age.

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- Yeah, and that's a good thing to have that trust,

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and we don't have that a lot in the Atlanta area,

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especially between coaches,

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we're a hyper-competitive, hype of person.

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And so to see everybody working together,

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it's one of things, Tennis, GoTennis,

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and the podcast that we're doing,

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Bobby and I have that vision of everybody being

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on the same team, everybody working together.

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- Yeah, and that's where Eric Jackson comes into now, okay.

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Eric came through our program as a junior.

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Of course, he was, he was, boy, really, really great.

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He paid for the junior Davis Cup team

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when he played in Japan, representing America,

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that's the kind of skills he had,

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but he's been in Dallas for many, many years,

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but he's back now, and he says,

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"Hey, I'm willing to get back."

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And hopefully, I can do this maybe another year or two,

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and pass it on to a younger guy like that,

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you know, to take over.

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That would be great.

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- It's gotta take a lot of energy, I'm sure.

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- Yes.

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Bobby, you got anything?

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I know you kinda, we kinda threw you in here late,

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and I haven't really even had a chance, Jonathan,

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if you wouldn't have known, but normally Bobby and I

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talk about these things ahead of time,

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and since you and I only connected yesterday,

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I haven't had a really a chance to catch up Bobby,

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so in the last 20 minutes,

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I figured Bobby's brain's running a little bit.

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See what you're doing.

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Trying to get people up here, I think,

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first of all, Jonathan, I would love it deck,

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if you could send it to me,

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that I have a couple people I could ship it out to right away

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and try to help out on the funerary of the inside of it.

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- Okay, great.

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- And then were you involved a couple of years ago

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at Forest Hills with the kids with Luke,

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and running all over Forest Hills?

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I heard a funny story from,

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I think somebody we both know about the kids

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and have the right shoes,

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did you guys have to go out and get shoes for the kids?

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The big, the big, (laughs)

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- Actually, that didn't too much happen either,

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what they kind of had to give us a break,

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'cause we had no idea about the shoes,

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'cause how many of them ever played on grass.

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Me as a senior, we play our, I hated grass,

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'cause I'm always falling on the court,

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but we go up to Philadelphia and play up on the grass court

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up there is where we have our nationals, okay?

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And they don't let us wear grass court shoes up there,

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'cause they don't want their courts to aid up, okay?

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But, yes, of course, I was right there,

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we went to, fourth house of spectacular trip,

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and for me, especially because that's where Ash beat Conners,

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okay, right there in that stadium,

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and I didn't know that that clubhouse was that small,

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it looked so huge on TV.

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That was the small hall play, so I was like, wow,

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but it had a lot of history,

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and all our kids got to play on grass,

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and they'll never forget that, never forget that.

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So, yes, I do know a lot about that.

Speaker:

(laughs)

Speaker:

- I heard all about it, as he was happening,

Speaker:

so I was like, what happened?

Speaker:

(laughs)

Speaker:

- Yeah, we had no shoes for grass, but we had white,

Speaker:

we all had, we knew we had to have white,

Speaker:

'cause each day we wear a different color t-shirt,

Speaker:

so we had our white t-shirts on,

Speaker:

and we were all white for that particular day.

Speaker:

So, we were at least on point with the colors,

Speaker:

and the videos came out great,

Speaker:

the pictures of that event are great, yeah.

Speaker:

- Got you guys broken with Ray Benton up in DC,

Speaker:

with his program,

Speaker:

Chessie Cooper in Houston,

Speaker:

'cause Chessie's got ties to Michael Young as well.

Speaker:

- Right, no.

Speaker:

We see them when we go up there,

Speaker:

sometimes when I go up there to Coma Park,

Speaker:

which is not the park where they work at,

Speaker:

but that's where all the old guys play,

Speaker:

I'll go up there and hit with them sometimes,

Speaker:

and I'll run into those people, okay.

Speaker:

Well, no, our world has been right here in Atlanta,

Speaker:

of course, you know, the number one city in the nation, okay?

Speaker:

And that's been more of our focus,

Speaker:

so we have not been reaching out to Houston

Speaker:

and to DC, right?

Speaker:

- Where you coached out of now?

Speaker:

- Excuse me?

Speaker:

- Whatever you do coach out of now.

Speaker:

- I coached out of McGee to the center and Sugar Creek.

Speaker:

And Sugar Creek just happened in summer,

Speaker:

'cause I don't know if you know it,

Speaker:

Atlanta is going through a contractual thing right now.

Speaker:

And so,

Speaker:

right, so we kind of up in the air with McGee right now,

Speaker:

so I went on out to Sugar Creek

Speaker:

where we got a good base.

Speaker:

And in fact, the guy who runs it went to Codaswick.

Speaker:

So that was easy, easy to work with.

Speaker:

- But you know, Bobby, it sounds like there's an opportunity

Speaker:

at McGee, I don't know, I mean,

Speaker:

you and I are kind of free for some facility management here.

Speaker:

No.

Speaker:

- Leasing in the city of Atlanta is a tough thing.

Speaker:

That's a hard business.

Speaker:

I don't envy that.

Speaker:

I'm totally kidding about getting into that business.

Speaker:

That is not--

Speaker:

- I mean, UTA had called me and they would say,

Speaker:

"Okay, we're thinking about making a bid if we do your our guy."

Speaker:

'Cause I already had a program there.

Speaker:

We know you know what to do for the area.

Speaker:

And then they called me back and say,

Speaker:

"Hey, where the city of Atlanta is offering,

Speaker:

it's just not gonna fit.

Speaker:

We're not gonna even bid."

Speaker:

And so they fell out, you know?

Speaker:

And--

Speaker:

- I told you, I told you.

Speaker:

- Have you spoken to--

Speaker:

- I've just kind of think, yeah,

Speaker:

I don't wanna recreate what you've already done.

Speaker:

But if you spoke in the UTA,

Speaker:

if you spoke in the Trevor Shore.

Speaker:

- As well.

Speaker:

- Well, I talked to UTA, okay, but UTA was planning

Speaker:

on bidding for McGee and they decided to back out and not bid.

Speaker:

- Yeah, so.

Speaker:

- So after, and then I ran into them at Atlanta Open,

Speaker:

we talked a little bit more, you know,

Speaker:

we had hit a couple times.

Speaker:

And yeah, so I think he's got a new replacement.

Speaker:

Have replaced, so he was telling me about that

Speaker:

'cause I might need to get mine done.

Speaker:

- So, I'm thinking about stuff like that.

Speaker:

Bobby, do you need forever?

Speaker:

Will you lean forward, like, sit up straight?

Speaker:

So yeah, you're just far enough away

Speaker:

that your Mike's kicking out as you go.

Speaker:

- Probably 'cause I have it in a stand

Speaker:

that the Mike is a little blocked, but--

Speaker:

- That's okay, yeah, just your first word cuts out

Speaker:

and then we get the rest of it.

Speaker:

So if you're a little closer, it'll help.

Speaker:

- I can do it.

Speaker:

- I can do it.

Speaker:

- Yeah, I know you sound good.

Speaker:

But yeah, Bobby, anything else?

Speaker:

I love Bobby's always great, Jonathan,

Speaker:

'cause he's gonna look up and he's gonna know

Speaker:

about the fun stories and the events that have happened

Speaker:

and he definitely knows the story.

Speaker:

I'm sure he's probably not the type you want

Speaker:

on the bus with you managing the kids.

Speaker:

There's a firmer hand there that might not be necessary,

Speaker:

but--

Speaker:

- I don't care anything, too, so that's--

Speaker:

- But he wouldn't know the air.

Speaker:

- But don't give me wrong.

Speaker:

Sometimes we have to be fun.

Speaker:

I don't take any kids, you know, they can't be disciplined.

Speaker:

That could be a problem.

Speaker:

So we can't let our kids--

Speaker:

- We can't let my kids--

Speaker:

- It's got to be about 16, 17, maybe 18 hours.

Speaker:

So it's not a short trip.

Speaker:

So--

Speaker:

- 15, 15, 16.

Speaker:

- Yeah, and they're excited to get there.

Speaker:

So, but yeah, they're gonna be, it's tough,

Speaker:

'cause you're just a sheer adrenaline

Speaker:

of what you get into, but yeah, the good news is

Speaker:

the beginning of the trip is easy

Speaker:

and it's the shortest distance is the worst.

Speaker:

Once you get on the Jersey Turnpike gets brutal.

Speaker:

- Deloid.

Speaker:

- It is brutal.

Speaker:

When we stop, when we stop in the morning and New Jersey,

Speaker:

right, not far from the metal ends, we stop, okay?

Speaker:

And we have breakfast and freshen up and put on our t-shirts,

Speaker:

'cause we're headed to, are there as kids day, okay?

Speaker:

Yeah, but we're super excited right then,

Speaker:

'cause then I'm on the microphone,

Speaker:

they see the metal ends and then shortly after,

Speaker:

we'll go over to Washington, Burieds.

Speaker:

And I try to keep them entertained,

Speaker:

because we're just gonna, we only go on 10 feet stop,

Speaker:

10 feet stop, this traffic is crazy.

Speaker:

It is crazy.

Speaker:

And then you have to be careful, the bus driver has to know

Speaker:

where to go, 'cause you can't go under

Speaker:

some of those little tunnels.

Speaker:

- I've got to spread that.

Speaker:

- Yeah, so--

Speaker:

- The Georgia Washington Bridge has been under construction

Speaker:

my entire life, so it's, (laughs)

Speaker:

you can't go in through,

Speaker:

kind of think they bring in through,

Speaker:

you can actually go through that island,

Speaker:

which might be a little easier and go to Arizona,

Speaker:

but nonetheless, it's not easy.

Speaker:

- Right, right.

Speaker:

- Thank you, that I was born and I've grew up

Speaker:

in the first few years in the Bronx,

Speaker:

so I could tell good Bronx boys,

Speaker:

back in the day when Mayor Koch used to put posters

Speaker:

in the windows to make the building look better, so it was,

Speaker:

(laughs)

Speaker:

- Well, so far, out of the seven years we've been,

Speaker:

every time we go, it's good weather,

Speaker:

when we go across that bridge.

Speaker:

So we have all these views,

Speaker:

and it's just a really nice thing,

Speaker:

and I can start narrating, looking at Manhattan

Speaker:

and this Christler building, that building.

Speaker:

And I just try to,

Speaker:

keep the thing exciting and keep them motivated.

Speaker:

And they are, they're super excited,

Speaker:

and we'll get off that bus, this is our own empire.

Speaker:

- Yeah, well, like I said, it's an amazing view,

Speaker:

when you get close, it's really,

Speaker:

it's even going back, it might just haven't grown up,

Speaker:

but there's nothing like it in the world.

Speaker:

I spent a little time in DC and went back to New York,

Speaker:

and I'll never forget, on a Friday afternoon,

Speaker:

got off the train during Rutte-R,

Speaker:

and I was like, I just spent a month in DC,

Speaker:

and DC looked like a small town compared to

Speaker:

- Yeah, and also in the conversation, so yeah.

Speaker:

- Let me tell you one of the most exciting things for me

Speaker:

was just exciting me, is when I woke up the first morning

Speaker:

that Sunday morning, and I opened my blinds,

Speaker:

and I was on Roosevelt Island,

Speaker:

and at the graduate hotel, and I said,

Speaker:

"Oh, my God, you can reach out and touch."

Speaker:

You were right there, with a ground zero was,

Speaker:

in the World Trade Center, I mean, Manhattan,

Speaker:

it was just like unbelievable, unbelievable.

Speaker:

- It's so crazy, I took my daughter up a few years ago,

Speaker:

and just as the growth of Jersey City is unbelievable,

Speaker:

because everything in New York is so expensive,

Speaker:

obviously broke from 10, 15 years ago,

Speaker:

but I couldn't believe Jersey City, I was like,

Speaker:

my God, that was the place, you could get some,

Speaker:

if it's in Haikensack, you was cheaper, and yeah, that whole,

Speaker:

it's just, it's grown even more, intimidating,

Speaker:

and amazing all the same time.

Speaker:

- Yeah, again, since you mentioned that,

Speaker:

we need as many people to come on board this last week,

Speaker:

because you better believe, those prices are crazy high,

Speaker:

and they got higher since inflation stepped up.

Speaker:

So, yeah, you're right about that.

Speaker:

We're in New York, we're right in, right there, on the river,

Speaker:

at Roosevelt Island.

Speaker:

- And so, we're trying to figure out

Speaker:

how to help you raise money for this,

Speaker:

that's our goal right now.

Speaker:

We've got it out a week, I think you said,

Speaker:

you leave 25th-ish somewhere around there.

Speaker:

- We leave the 24th.

Speaker:

- I will put all the links, go fundee,

Speaker:

we go fundee, excuse me, we will put that all out there,

Speaker:

you sent me a bunch of information,

Speaker:

we'll try to share that as well,

Speaker:

so we'll tag each other and get everything out on social media,

Speaker:

and anybody who's got $10, if you want to sponsor a kid,

Speaker:

$500 is the magic number,

Speaker:

and if you want to sponsor all of them,

Speaker:

give Bobby a call, 'cause he's gonna be the one,

Speaker:

wait, Bobby's over here, give Bobby a call, 'cause he,

Speaker:

(laughs)

Speaker:

he's handling the bigger numbers, but, yeah,

Speaker:

- Please, was Bobby a call.

Speaker:

- Exactly, we will follow up over this day.

Speaker:

- I'm gonna be, exactly.

Speaker:

Well, I appreciate it, Jonathan, thank you so much for your time,

Speaker:

and Bobby is always, guys, we will be,

Speaker:

- Oh, we gotta ask him, he's the King of Tennis,

Speaker:

we gotta ask him.

Speaker:

- That's where I'm headed, so.

Speaker:

- Okay, make sure we didn't get away with Dr. Nganek.

Speaker:

- No, no, no, no, since we're past,

Speaker:

we're gonna put the goat fundee out there,

Speaker:

now I'm gonna step out, back into our typical Atlanta tennis podcast,

Speaker:

and say, I do wanna ask my favorite question to Jonathan Hart,

Speaker:

and ask, if you were King of Tennis,

Speaker:

we've heard a little bit about who you are,

Speaker:

and what you do, and you like to play,

Speaker:

and you like to help the kids of Atlanta,

Speaker:

but is there something close to your heart,

Speaker:

or something that you've seen in general,

Speaker:

whether it's the whole world of tennis, or just Atlanta,

Speaker:

or just sugar, creek, or McGee,

Speaker:

is there anything in the world of tennis

Speaker:

you would change if you were King of Tennis?

Speaker:

- Is there anything I would change?

Speaker:

Okay, 'cause tennis is a pretty good, complete game.

Speaker:

I mean, I just like the way it is, the way it is, okay?

Speaker:

And I would've said, let's get a tiebreaker

Speaker:

at the end of the Grand Slam's,

Speaker:

but they finally did that, because that was ridiculous, okay?

Speaker:

But if it was something I was gonna change,

Speaker:

I would change the way the college did,

Speaker:

when the ball hits the net, still play the point.

Speaker:

I would do that on the pro-lefton.

Speaker:

- On the pro-lefton? - I kinda like that.

Speaker:

- Yes.

Speaker:

- Okay, well they, in deep one college, you played left.

Speaker:

If it hits the net, it's lodged.

Speaker:

- Well, I get that, but in my understanding

Speaker:

of why they changed that rules,

Speaker:

because college kids are a bunch of cheaters,

Speaker:

'cause we've all played college tennis,

Speaker:

and we all know we're a bunch of cheaters,

Speaker:

and anytime he paced me, I just called a let.

Speaker:

So, there's no, I don't see the reason to do it in professional

Speaker:

for the same reason.

Speaker:

So I'm curious if I can push back a little, Jonathan,

Speaker:

and say, "It's obviously because not joke of it,

Speaker:

"it isn't cheating."

Speaker:

What's the purpose of that rule?

Speaker:

- I like the way it keeps things flowing, okay?

Speaker:

And it's the, you know, when it happens,

Speaker:

it's like, "Oh, all of a sudden, you gotta react to it,

Speaker:

"and then you gotta play your point differently."

Speaker:

Okay, so I just like the way that happens.

Speaker:

And I played it a couple of times, and I said,

Speaker:

"Okay, all right, you know, it's in the equation.

Speaker:

"It's another thing added to the equation."

Speaker:

So that's why I like it.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

- Oh, I get that's good.

Speaker:

Definitely cheating.

Speaker:

- Definitely cheating.

Speaker:

- Different from the college players being about your cheaters.

Speaker:

And I mean, you know what, you're saying cheating,

Speaker:

but you know, even the pros get the calls wrong sometimes.

Speaker:

So, it is what it is.

Speaker:

It's part of the game.

Speaker:

- But I really want it to be out.

Speaker:

Isn't that enough if I just want the ball to be out?

Speaker:

(laughing)

Speaker:

- You guys just have fun doing this podcast, huh?

Speaker:

Okay. - Why else?

Speaker:

Why else do it, Jonathan?

Speaker:

Why else do it?

Speaker:

- That's right.

Speaker:

- And we don't take ourselves too seriously.

Speaker:

We just try to help Atlanta tennis

Speaker:

and try to do for you as much as we can for the kids.

Speaker:

- All right.

Speaker:

- We'll get everything out there that we can.

Speaker:

I'll follow up with you after this.

Speaker:

We'll put this out audio only on all the podcast apps

Speaker:

that goes out.

Speaker:

I'll get that out in the next couple of days

Speaker:

to make sure everybody that follows us there will see it.

Speaker:

I'll clean it up a little bit,

Speaker:

see if I can make Bobby sound good.

Speaker:

We'll figure it's gonna happen out.

Speaker:

- I'm gonna do something.

Speaker:

- You have Jonathan contact information

Speaker:

if this is something, you know,

Speaker:

I've been through a loop of something I did a long time ago

Speaker:

and yes, this is something that I have a great interest in.

Speaker:

And so I'd like to be able to help out.

Speaker:

And I know we're under the gun this year,

Speaker:

but you know, get us run in for next year as well.

Speaker:

- Sounds good.

Speaker:

Sounds good.

Speaker:

- Sounds good.

Speaker:

- I'll call everybody after this

Speaker:

and we'll make it all happen.

Speaker:

Jonathan, heart.

Speaker:

Thank you so much.

Speaker:

We'll talk soon.

Speaker:

Thank you, Sean.

Speaker:

Thank you, Bobby.

Speaker:

Take care.

Speaker:

- Well, there you have it.

Speaker:

We wanna thank rejuvenate.com for use of the studio

Speaker:

and be sure to hit that follow button.

Speaker:

For more tennis related content,

Speaker:

you can go to AtlantaTennisPodcast.com.

Speaker:

And while you're there,

Speaker:

check out our calendar of tennis events,

Speaker:

deals on equipment, apparel, and more.

Speaker:

And you should feel good knowing that shopping

Speaker:

at Let'sGoTennis.com helps support

Speaker:

this show.

Speaker:

You can also donate directly using links in the show notes.

Speaker:

And with that, we're out.

Speaker:

See you next time.

Speaker:

(upbeat music)

Speaker:

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Speaker:

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Speaker:

(upbeat music)

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