Community Spotlight: Kimberly Le
By Steve Pratt
Every tennis community needs someone who is always positive, who attends tournaments and other tennis-related activities, who encourages friends and family members to keep on playing, and someone who regularly “Likes” and writes positive comments on Facebook posts.
In Southern California, that person is Kimberly Le
After continually seeing Kimberly post and like on Facebook in such a positive manner, we decided to reach out to her and ask about her involvement in tennis. So just like recognizing a Sportsmanship winner from a junior tournament, we felt like calling out someone who is doing good within the tennis community might also spur on others to do the same.
Kimberly’s family is active in tennis, and she just recently returned from Ithaca, N.Y., to drop off her youngest daughter Katherine Nguyen, who will be one of the top players at Cornell University her freshman season.
In a Facebook private message, Kimberly says she’s just an “old lady of 61 who used to play lots of tennis for USTA Leagues.”
She continued: “I do love the game of tennis and would love to volunteer someday. My daughter helps out the SCTA and her name is Tiffany Mai.” (Editor’s note: Mai does so much more and serves as a Tennis Service Representative for Long Beach and the South Bay).
“My God Daughter used to play for USC but graduated a long time ago,” she said. “I always like to encourage parents that have their kids to participate in sports, especially in tennis because it keeps them healthy. I think tennis makes them think smarter as you have to think and figure out every shot and have to figure out how to play different styles and keeps their brain working.”
Kimberly said her daughter Katherine has lots of friends that play at their clubs or on USTA League teams.
Katherine Nguyen
“But there are so many adults who play tennis who have young kids who don’t know how to get their kids started the proper way,” she said. “They don’t know how to select which tournaments are best for them or who to help them get to the next level.”
She continued: “I simply just like to help because I love to watch kids grow up in a healthy way. You’d be surprised how many parents play club or recreation tennis and who would love to have their kids compete in tennis, but they just don’t know where to start the right way. Now, I wish I have some grandkids to take them to tournaments with me. Maybe someday.”
Kimberly said she wants to keep giving back to the game she loves, and will keep helping out where she’s needed. “I would like to volunteer at tournament desks, get memberships for the USTA or anything I could do to help,” she said. “I would love to find more sponsors for tennis and to expand it and make it more popular.”
We can learn a lot from tennis-loving people in our community like Kimberly Le.