Our vision
The Kent Yamazaki & Bob Brett Tennis Foundation aims to advance, encourage, and promote the education of financially and/or socially disadvantaged youth through participation in tennis. The foundation regularly holds UTR event tournaments to give youths in metro & regional areas the opportunity to obtain a new skill. The UTR tournaments also provide an accessible experience of competitive tennis at a lower cost. Essential tournament services and equipment are supplied at a subsidised cost from affiliated organisations and coordinated by the Kent Yamazaki & Bob Brett Tennis Foundation volunteers. The volunteers are all young tennis players, coaches, and tennis officials who understand the regulations and act as role models for the children.
“Ikigai”生き甲斐
The most distinctive feature of our Foundation's work is that it aims to promote the well-being of socially disadvantaged young people "through tennis". We believe that tennis is an ideal sport for bringing people together from diverse backgrounds as it is a barrier-free sport in which everyone can participate.
It is a sport where everyone is equal on the court regardless of gender, age or race and where the physically disadvantaged have a place to play. The Foundation aims to provide socially disadvantaged young people with the opportunity to experience the sport of tennis, a sport that is barrier-free and rich in diversity in order to keep them connected to society and exposed to new values.
The values we want to create are based on the Japanese concept of "ikigai", which means to have a direction and purpose in life, to feel fulfilled, to act towards it and to gain a sense of satisfaction and meaning. We believe that tennis has the power to create a sense of "ikigai" and we hope that through tennis, disadvantaged young people will have a sense of purpose in life.
The Foundation wants to provide disadvantaged young people with the opportunity to play tennis by helping them financially. The Foundation will pay for the equipment, courts and coaches required to enable them to practice and play tennis.
We hope that practicing tennis will promote physical and mental health and a sense of purpose, such as the desire to compete. We have run numerous tennis tournaments across Australia and can provide an environment where playing the game fosters personal development such as patience and respect. Playing a tennis match gives them the opportunity to learn the importance of hard work and the joy of winning. The team game gives them the opportunity to experience the joy of contributing to something other than themselves. Off court we offer young people the opportunity to discover new values by socializing with a variety of people and also offer a number of parent, player and coach education workshops. We can support young people who are discovering that tennis and study can lead them to a scholarship to a secondary school or a university. We can support young people who want to become tennis coaches or work in the tennis industry.
We want to provide an opportunity for socially disadvantaged young people to participate in the tennis community, to reduce their social isolation and to find their "purpose in life".
Objectives
"Foundation Purposes" means to advance, encourage and promote education of financially and socially disadvantaged youth, through participation in tennis in Australia, by providing money for scholarships, bursaries and prizes, for one or more Charitable Purposes, as the Trustee from time to time decides, and in such manner as the Trustee from time to time decides, including, without limiting the generality of the above, Charitable Purposes which:
(a) contribute to the personal development of financially and socially disadvantaged youth through tennis as a medium for play as well as social and physical growth;
(b) provide financial support in the form of coaching personnel and/or appropriate training squads, racquets, and balls to financially and socially disadvantaged youth who wish to participate in the sport of tennis;
(c) promote a positive environment that will encourage financially and socially disadvantaged youth to continue playing tennis socially or for clubs and in competitions;
(d) encourage financially and socially disadvantaged youth to pursue education, alongside sport, to improve their self-esteem and confidence;
(e) provide growth opportunities for financially and socially disadvantaged youth who wish to participate in the sport of tennis and who remain passionate about their education;
(f) assist and/or guide financially and socially disadvantaged youth who are committed to both tennis and education, to acquire tennis
and/or academic scholarships for Australian Universities and other tertiary institutions;
(g) promote a healthy lifestyle for financially and socially disadvantaged youth through participation in sport such as tennis as well as the importance of education and being a role
model to one’s peers; and
(h) provide mentoring to all financially and socially disadvantaged youth so that they
become upstanding global citizens.