NIKE, Mentee and Serena Williams Team Up to Win $15,000 for Mentoring USA

13:42PM on September 09 2009

On Wednesday, August 26, 2009 mentees from Mentoring USA sites, through Mentoring USA’s healthy lifestyles initiative, attended the Nike/US Open Tennis Challenge in Manhattan--an experience that would prove to be an opportunity of a lifetime for the youth that participated.

Tennis greats Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and John McEnroe gathered to challenge local youth, tennis players and the general public to try their hand at experiencing what it’s like to return a pro serve. Youth from New York Parks and Recreation Department, Athletes for Charity and Mentoring USA were in attendance and were treated to inspirational tennis tips and guidance from the tennis legends.

One youth from each organization was selected to represent their charity and received the chance to win a $5,000 donation for their respective organizations by returning one serve from a tennis serve-simulator designed to mimic the powerful shots of the pros.  After receiving coaching tips from the tennis stars, each youth successfully completed the challenge. Josiah Dillard, an eight year old Mentoring USA mentee, took the coaching advice of twenty eight-time Singles Championship Winner, Serena Williams, during the event to hit his winning shot. An added challenge was posed to each athlete to see if they could return ten consecutive simulated tennis serves for an additional $10,000 donation to each charity. All three tennis stars made the organizations $10,000 happier—with Serena Williams winning the challenge for Mentoring USA; Rafael Nadal winning the challenge for Athletes for Charity; and John McEnroe winning the challenge for the NYC Parks and Recreation Department.