The tennis courts at Fox Pond Park will be occupied Saturday with young people swinging racquets and … toothbrushes?
That’s right, it’s Tennis and Dentist Community Fun Day, hosted by Edmonds Tennis and Education Foundation.
Young people ages 5-18 are invited to come out to the park for the event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fox Pond Park is located at 375 Vicksboro Rd.
Participants will get free tennis lessons from some tennis experts and they’ll learn the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene from a couple of local tooth experts.
Dr. Jerry Edmonds, III and his wife Dorcel launched the 501c3 in 2018 and this is their third fun day event to introduce the sport of tennis to young people.
The foundation was named National Junior Tennis Learning Chapter of the Year back at a meeting in January, at which time the 17 North Carolina NJTL chapters were challenged with coming up with an innovative way to teach tennis in combination with a community learning experience.
Edmonds said his wife came up with the idea on the drive back home from the meeting.
The foundation uses the game of tennis as a vehicle to foster and develop positive character traits including integrity, honesty and more, Edmonds said.
And since May is National Tennis Month, they’re offering a tennis clinic and an oral hygiene clinic. But this clinic won’t have kids opening wide for the dentist to peer inside at teeth and gums; rather, there will giveaways of things like toothbrushes, floss and more, Edmonds said.
“The goal is to teach (children) early on the importance of good dental hygiene,” he said.
Granville Vance Public Health representatives will be on hand with information about its dental clinic, for example, and its school-based program called “The Tooth Club.”
Last year, the foundation awarded 17 $500 scholarships to graduating high school seniors to use toward college costs.
Sponsorships are vital to the foundation’s scholarship program, but Edmonds said the “secret sauce” is pairing local sponsors with those scholarship recipients to create a mentor/mentee relationship.
Through the scholarship program, tennis clinics and more, Edmonds said he hopes the foundation is creating “an army of givers” who will spread out across the community and beyond and to keep coming up with ways to be involved.
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