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| Martina Hingis: ‘If I can help kids to play sport and learn, I will’ | Martina Hingis: ‘If I can help kids to play sport and learn, I will’ |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Having twice retired from tennis only to have a change of heart, Martina Hingis likes to joke that she is pursuing her fourth career. Judging by her cheerful disposition as she gently feeds tennis balls to a three-year-old boy at a coaching clinic on the middle Sunday of Wimbledon, where she was champion two decades ago almost to the day, a fifth act beckons. | |
| Last December, Hingis became the latest in a long line of tennis stars to put her name to a cause, signing up as an ambassador for Right to Play, a global organisation that uses sport and play to educate children in some of the world’s poorest communities. | Last December, Hingis became the latest in a long line of tennis stars to put her name to a cause, signing up as an ambassador for Right to Play, a global organisation that uses sport and play to educate children in some of the world’s poorest communities. |
| The ubiquity of foundations and charity work among modern sports stars sometimes invites scepticism. It seems everyone with a racket has a cause. Maria Sharapova has a scholarship scheme for children in Belarus, Andy Murray supports Malaria No More and Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic all have foundations helping the underprivileged. | The ubiquity of foundations and charity work among modern sports stars sometimes invites scepticism. It seems everyone with a racket has a cause. Maria Sharapova has a scholarship scheme for children in Belarus, Andy Murray supports Malaria No More and Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic all have foundations helping the underprivileged. |
| Yet Hingis is well placed to appreciate what play can bring to a child’s life. The Swiss was once the youngest world No1 in history, amassing five major titles before her 19th birthday until ankle problems intervened to force her first retirement from the game at the age of 22. Now ranked third in the world in doubles, she is the top seed in the mixed at this year’s Wimbledon, alongside Britain’s Jamie Murray. | Yet Hingis is well placed to appreciate what play can bring to a child’s life. The Swiss was once the youngest world No1 in history, amassing five major titles before her 19th birthday until ankle problems intervened to force her first retirement from the game at the age of 22. Now ranked third in the world in doubles, she is the top seed in the mixed at this year’s Wimbledon, alongside Britain’s Jamie Murray. |
| “Sport is a great gift to have, and not everybody is as fortunate as I was,” says Hingis. “So there’s definitely a personal element in this decision. I think this is a great project. The places that they go to, they get a lot of kids together and they can play. I’ve participated in the past, and in the future – when I don’t play any more – I want to be more involved. | “Sport is a great gift to have, and not everybody is as fortunate as I was,” says Hingis. “So there’s definitely a personal element in this decision. I think this is a great project. The places that they go to, they get a lot of kids together and they can play. I’ve participated in the past, and in the future – when I don’t play any more – I want to be more involved. |
| “Not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to play tennis. If I can help, with my little bit, to help kids start playing tennis and learn, I will.” | “Not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to play tennis. If I can help, with my little bit, to help kids start playing tennis and learn, I will.” |
| Nikki Skipper, Right to Play’s UK director, is in no doubt about the benefits of having a player like Hingis on board. “Our athlete ambassadors really understand, from personal experience, the power of sport and play,” says Skipper. “Sport and play have built their confidence and resilience, and those are the kinds of skills we build in the children we work with.” | Nikki Skipper, Right to Play’s UK director, is in no doubt about the benefits of having a player like Hingis on board. “Our athlete ambassadors really understand, from personal experience, the power of sport and play,” says Skipper. “Sport and play have built their confidence and resilience, and those are the kinds of skills we build in the children we work with.” |
| Community participation is central to the success of the initiative, which reaches 1 million children daily across 18 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Local coaches, of whom there are 14,900 globally, are trained to deliver the programmes in schools, clubs and across the 52 refugee camps in which the organisation operates, with the emphasis on making learning fun. | Community participation is central to the success of the initiative, which reaches 1 million children daily across 18 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Local coaches, of whom there are 14,900 globally, are trained to deliver the programmes in schools, clubs and across the 52 refugee camps in which the organisation operates, with the emphasis on making learning fun. |
| As Hingis points out, this community-led approach is fundamental to the project’s sustainability. “To make it stick, you need people at the place. You need coaches, or people who can play tennis, to play with the children. Sport is part of education; a coach, a teacher – it’s the same thing. You need someone who’s there, who participates.” | As Hingis points out, this community-led approach is fundamental to the project’s sustainability. “To make it stick, you need people at the place. You need coaches, or people who can play tennis, to play with the children. Sport is part of education; a coach, a teacher – it’s the same thing. You need someone who’s there, who participates.” |
| Even so, celebrity advocates can play a role that ranges beyond fundraising and engaging public awareness. Witness the extraordinary furore that greeted the Williams sisters when they visited Nigeria and South Africa five years ago to promote women’s rights. | Even so, celebrity advocates can play a role that ranges beyond fundraising and engaging public awareness. Witness the extraordinary furore that greeted the Williams sisters when they visited Nigeria and South Africa five years ago to promote women’s rights. |
| “A lot of kids don’t have a role model and, once they meet these incredible people, it can create motivation,” says Patrick Mouratoglou, the French coach who has guided Serena Williams’s assault on the record books over the past five years. “When they come, they bring dreams. And the dream is the start of everything.” | “A lot of kids don’t have a role model and, once they meet these incredible people, it can create motivation,” says Patrick Mouratoglou, the French coach who has guided Serena Williams’s assault on the record books over the past five years. “When they come, they bring dreams. And the dream is the start of everything.” |
| For many children in Africa, however, a visit from the Williams sisters has yielded something more palpable than dreams. “Serena didn’t just go to Africa and leave,” says Mouratoglou. “She raised money. She builds schools.” | For many children in Africa, however, a visit from the Williams sisters has yielded something more palpable than dreams. “Serena didn’t just go to Africa and leave,” says Mouratoglou. “She raised money. She builds schools.” |
| When Mouratoglou says Serena builds schools, he is not speaking figuratively. Last year, the world’s best player wielded hammers and paint-rollers during the construction of the Salt Marsh primary school in Trelawny, the Jamaican parish best known as the birthplace of Usain Bolt. | When Mouratoglou says Serena builds schools, he is not speaking figuratively. Last year, the world’s best player wielded hammers and paint-rollers during the construction of the Salt Marsh primary school in Trelawny, the Jamaican parish best known as the birthplace of Usain Bolt. |
| Like the Serena Williams secondary school in Matooni, eastern Kenya, which opened in 2008 and is required to maintain a 60-40 ratio of boys to girls, the project was supported by Serena’s foundation, which promotes equal access to education and supports victims of conflict. | Like the Serena Williams secondary school in Matooni, eastern Kenya, which opened in 2008 and is required to maintain a 60-40 ratio of boys to girls, the project was supported by Serena’s foundation, which promotes equal access to education and supports victims of conflict. |
| Working and building a third school with Serena williams fund and helping hands #swf | Working and building a third school with Serena williams fund and helping hands #swf |
| A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Feb 9, 2016 at 9:47pm PST | A post shared by Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) on Feb 9, 2016 at 9:47pm PST |
| Mouratoglou is well acquainted with the intersection between sport and education. He has developed his tennis academy in the south of France, where pupils are required to show the same drive in the classroom as they do on the tennis court, into a thriving operation that attracts young hopefuls from all over the world. Unsurprisingly, he instinctively grasps the ethos behind Right to Play. | Mouratoglou is well acquainted with the intersection between sport and education. He has developed his tennis academy in the south of France, where pupils are required to show the same drive in the classroom as they do on the tennis court, into a thriving operation that attracts young hopefuls from all over the world. Unsurprisingly, he instinctively grasps the ethos behind Right to Play. |
| “In countries where everything is a struggle, where there are so many opportunities to go wrong ways … because you’re in trouble, you’re poor and there are not very many opportunities – sport is a fantastic way to build something positive,” he says. | “In countries where everything is a struggle, where there are so many opportunities to go wrong ways … because you’re in trouble, you’re poor and there are not very many opportunities – sport is a fantastic way to build something positive,” he says. |
| “Sport can help in the process of building yourself. It teaches you a lot of lessons – humility, how to learn from failing, that failing is not the end of the world, because you always have another chance. It teaches you that working hard to build something is the only way to achieve things.” | “Sport can help in the process of building yourself. It teaches you a lot of lessons – humility, how to learn from failing, that failing is not the end of the world, because you always have another chance. It teaches you that working hard to build something is the only way to achieve things.” |
| Mouratoglou – like Hingis an ambassador for Maui Jim, a sunglasses brand that is supporting Optometry Giving Sight to prevent blindness in the developing world – is living proof of these sentiments. In his autobiography, The Coach, he describes how his dreams of turning professional were thwarted by parents to whom the notion of a career in sport was anathema. For a time, the young Mouratoglou went off the rails – until his enduring love of tennis convinced him to experience as a teacher the life denied him as a player. | Mouratoglou – like Hingis an ambassador for Maui Jim, a sunglasses brand that is supporting Optometry Giving Sight to prevent blindness in the developing world – is living proof of these sentiments. In his autobiography, The Coach, he describes how his dreams of turning professional were thwarted by parents to whom the notion of a career in sport was anathema. For a time, the young Mouratoglou went off the rails – until his enduring love of tennis convinced him to experience as a teacher the life denied him as a player. |
| Mouratoglou’s story stands in contrast with that of Hingis, the child prodigy who was named after Martina Navratilova and groomed for success virtually from the cradle. Yet sport gave both the opportunity to realise their talents, and that may just be as persuasive an argument as any for the power of play. | Mouratoglou’s story stands in contrast with that of Hingis, the child prodigy who was named after Martina Navratilova and groomed for success virtually from the cradle. Yet sport gave both the opportunity to realise their talents, and that may just be as persuasive an argument as any for the power of play. |