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Radar
First Serve: Louis Bolling
 Not many people dig deep – neither into their reserves of strength nor into their back pockets – to help disadvantaged children reach their full potential. But this is just what tennis coach Louis Bolling is doing for the young players training at the Wendywood Sports Club.
The American-born Wendywood resident is currently making a racket (all puns intended) over the current state of the South African tennis scene. According to Bolling, little is being done to help aspiring players, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, to realise their dreams. “A lot of lives could be changed, but aren’t because of general apathy,” he says. “In spite of this, we have been able to achieve some pretty decent things here at Wendywood.”
Bolling runs the First Serve Tennis Programme here (the only First Serve centre outside the United States), which consists of weekly two-hour sessions of tennis instruction, paired with a First Serve Life Skills course. “We’re trying to lay down the foundation to teach kids for free,” he says.
Bolling came to South Africa in 2005 to work for a marketing company. “In 2006 one of my colleagues wanted to help kids from Soweto who were keen to learn to play tennis. I started volunteering with some guys who ran a development programme through tennis. Later, I was made Gauteng Development Manager.”
When asked how he started playing tennis in the first place, a wry smile spreads across Bolling’s face. “I was playing in the National Junior Baseball League at home. The league folded because of corruption, so I started playing tennis. I was teased a lot because I was crap. I came back the next year and I beat the coach. I got picked for a tennis tournament and then started playing at the Arthur Ashe Tennis and Education Centre in Philadelphia, which was the only youth tennis centre in the world
at the time.
“The other inspiration for taking up tennis was so I wouldn’t have to sing in the church choir,” he laughs. “They practised on a Wednesday from 4pm to 8pm. I hated choir, so I said, ‘Yo, I’ve got to get into the 6pm-to-8pm tennis class!’ It’s the stupid little motivations that end up changing your life.”
The mission of the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, founded in 1952 by the legendary tennis player, is “to create and promote opportunities to improve the quality of life of young people through tennis and education.” There is currently an Arthur Ashe centre in Soweto.
While funding is obviously always a problem, the biggest challenge Bolling has faced in his development work is the lack of existing structures within South African tennis to support young players with talent. “No one is going to sponsor these kids if there is no preparation. I met with tennis officials in December and I keep reaching out to them. We’re in May and we still don’t have a sponsorship proposal. The kids lose out. These guys are responsible for the futures of tens of thousands of kids,” he says.
Despite all the time and money he has poured into his work (he recently funded one of the children so she could compete in a tournament in Italy), Bolling doesn’t believe what he is doing is anything out of the ordinary. “You’ve interviewed me as a hero, but I hope you can change that. I ain’t no hero,” he says in his Philly accent. Details: www.loubol.webs.com
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