KDES students play tennis on the White House lawn

KDES Participates in QuickStart Tennis Clinic at White House

Kendall Demonstration School for the Deaf (KDES) student representatives had the honor of participating in a QuickStart Tennis clinic on the South Lawn of the White House along with over 100 children of under age 10 from local National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) programs. Professional tennis players Sam Querrey and Bob and Mike Bryan also made an appearance in this event designed to support First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to increase awareness and take preventive actions against childhood obesity.

The event ended with a once in a lifetime surprise. President Obama greeted the participants and gave words of encouragement to continue staying active. KDES students and staff got to shake hands with President Obama.

KDES students learned how to play tennis through collaboration with the Capital Region Education And Tennis Experience (CREATE) Tennis organization. CREATE Tennis works in partnership with the D.C. Parks and Recreation to set up student programs and with United States Tennis Association to train tennis coaches.

“Now that we’ve seen how enthusiastic the students are about tennis, our dream is to build a year-round tennis program at Kendall with the support of CREATE Tennis,” said KDES physical education teacher Frank Turk Jr.

This wonderful experience is something the participating KDES students and staff will always remember and cherish.