Sioux Falls teen hosts tennis camp for Spanish-speaking kids

SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — Charlotte Crawford, 17, has been playing tennis for 10 years.

“My neighbor was O'Gorman's tennis coach and he would give me balls to play against my garage and I really loved the sport. So I started taking tennis lessons and I really liked it and wanted to continue playing,” Charlotte Crawford said.

As his love for tennis grew, so did his passion for learning the Spanish language. That eventually led her to this summer, when she started her own tennis camp for Spanish-speaking kids.

“I noticed that there is a huge opportunity to grow the sport. And I'm also in the Spanish immersion program, so I've been learning Spanish since kindergarten and I'm kind of putting my two big passions together and creating a program that can help kids learn how to play tennis.” , Crawford said.

Jugando Juntos, which means play together in Spanish, was a free 3-day camp held last week for 10-12 year olds.

“I think we could really take this to a new place and really help tennis and hopefully increase the level of girls and boys or the number of girls and boys in high school tennis, which has done default recently,” Crawford said.

But all this work was not done alone. Crawford has had help from friends who play tennis and are also in the Spanish immersion program.

“She contacted me and a group of other Spanish immersion kids or Spanish immersion tennis players and asked if we would like to coach in Spanish. And I feel like it’s such a fun opportunity, not only for the kids to learn, but for us to teach,” Betsy Haft said.

From learning the serve to understanding the score, the camp was taught almost entirely in Spanish. But Crawford and the coaches also taught the campers the English words for tennis terms.

“If they have language barriers, Spanish definitely comes into play. But also with this program, I wanted it to be in Spanish, but also teach English terms,” Crawford said.

Crawford’s goal of inclusion doesn’t stop there. Great Life, Match Pointe and the City of Sioux Falls have agreed to award some scholarships to campers so they can continue playing through the remainder of the summer.

“There are courts all over the world and all over the country. So I really want them to just learn the basics and if they like it, keep playing tennis and because it’s a great sport,” Crawford said.

“I feel like we just need more connections with the Spanish community in tennis, because I feel like sometimes it's a bit of a separation and I feel like we We need to get people from the Spanish community more involved in the sports we play, and even our team activities,” Haft said.

And with a vision like Crawford's and a camp like Jugando Juntos, that goal is well on its way.