Harper for Kids Teaches Sportsmanship at 2009 Bank of the West Classic
STANFORD, Calif. – The 2009 Bank of the West Classic hosted the Inch and Miles Sportsmanship Tennis Festival for Kids at the Taube Family Tennis Center yesterday afternoon. The Festival was put on by Harper For Kids, a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded in 2008 by "Peanut" Louie Harper, a 16 year veteran of the women's professional tennis association (Sony Ericsson WTA Tour), and her husband, Tim Harper.
The Festival brought 28 kids together for an afternoon of learning about sportsmanship via the Harper For Kids’ Inch and Miles program. Harper for Kids administers the program based on the children’s book by Coach John Wooden, “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success”, which was co-authored by Steve Jamison, a collaborator with the Harper For Kids team. The book expands on the “Pyramid of Success” developed by Coach Wooden and attempts to teach these concepts to children through tennis.
At the Festival, the children were broken up into small groups where each building block of the “Pyramid to Success” was put into action. The fitness component was acted out through jumping rope and the cooperation component was taught with a doubles tennis drill. The entire group spent two hours at the Festival before attending the evening match at the Bank of the West Classic.
For more information on Harper For Kids please visit: http://www.harperforkids.org/
ABOUT THE BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC: The Bank of the West Classic is the longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world and is the first stop of the Olympus US Open Series. A Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier event, the Bank of the West Classic features a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $700,000. Held on Stanford University’s campus at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium since 1997, former champions include: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams. The Bank of the West Classic is owned and operated by IMG.
ABOUT BANK OF THE WEST: With more than $66 billion in assets, San Francisco-based Bank of the West is one of the nation’s 25 largest banks. Founded in 1874, Bank of the West is a full-service financial institution with nearly 4 million accounts in more than 700 branch and commercial offices across 19 Western and Midwestern states.
ABOUT HARPER FOR KIDS: Harper For Kids (HFK) organization was founded by Tim and Peanut Harper in 2008. The mission of Harper For Kids is to teach children the important life skills that will empower them to achieve their personal best in life. Our vision is that HFK enrichment programs will help children develop good character and inspire the adults in the children’s lives to be good role models of important core, ethical values and help foster a healthy community.
