Kenyatte And Izear Inspire: Diversity Day Celebrates Success at Edwardsville Futures Tournament

EDWARDSVILLE - The third annual Diversity Day, presented by McConnell and Associates, was another huge success as a part of the Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament, presented by The EGHM Foundation recently with a clinic at Liberty Middle School, and a lunch and program presented at the auditorium of the Jon Davis Wrestling Center at Edwardsville High School.

Approximately 75 players, representing various minority organizations as the NetRushers, who produced the tournament's first-ever champion in Blake Strode, the Breakpoint Tennis Academy, both of St. Louis, and the East St. Louis Tennis Association, participated in the free clinic, and later heard from guest speakers such as former Illinois tennis player Kweisi Kenyatte and former Edwardsville player Anthony Izear, who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., and is CEO of his own companies, including Comfee, Inc., a women's fashion company, and a founder of Legends Academy.

"It was amazing," said Futures tournament director and EHS tennis coach Dave Lipe. "Great organizations that came over and took part in this. The NetRushers, and Breakpoint Academy, the East St Louis Tennis Association kids over here. I am grateful to McConnell and Associates for their presenting sponsorship, our diversity director, Dr. Cornelius Smith, played a vital role in producing this today. The kids had a lot of fun, they heard some inspiring speakers here, during our pizza.

"They heard from the directors of NetRushers and Breakpoint, they heard from former tour player and Division-I coach Kweisi Kenyatte, and they heard from established business mogul Anthony Izear, a former EHS player, and a really inspiring guy. So, it was a great day of tennis, and a great program afterwards."

Lipe also expressed thanks for longtime coach Mike Patrick and his son, who was recently appointed as tennis coach at Pattonville High School in northwest St. Louis County, the staff of the tournament and at Liberty Middle School.

"Hosting the Futures is a lot of work, and it's a lot of fun," Lipe said. "But I think using the Futures as a vehicle to create opportunities for kids in underserved communities is a big part, a big highlight of our week, along with the other community outreach events, Kids Night and tomorrow night, Mitch-n-Friends. So, we love all the things we do to involve the community with this tournament, and today was another chapter in that long history."

In their talks, both Kenyatte and Izear encouraged the youngsters to follow their dreams and thier hearts into whatever they were inspired to do in their lives. Kenyatte drove directly from Des Moines, Ia., where he's currently an assistant coach at Drake University, going through severe thunderstorms in Iowa, to make it on time to coach and speak to the kids. In his speech, Kenyatte talked about how God helped him when his tennis career was derailed because of injuries, and how he was inspired to apply to become a policeman in West Des Moines, Ia. He hopes to use his position to help and serve his community, and help kids out along the way as well.

Izear shared the story of how he was hanging around the tennis courts when he was a student at EHS, how Lipe took him under his wing and showed him how to play tennis the right way, and how the lessons learned from Lipe still inspire him today in his business ventures. Another scheduled guest speaker, former boxing champion Devon Alexander "The Great," was forced to cancel when his wife went into labor Wednesday morning.

"Those speeches were great," Lipe said. "That was a big part of what we did. They did a fantastic job. Love what they said, Devon Alexander was supposed to be here, but his wife went into labor. So, we'll excuse him today, from today's activities," he said with a smile. "It would have been great to have Devon here, but we'll have him next year, hopefully. He's a fantastic guy who does a lot for the St. Louis community, a lot for kids, and he would have fit right in here, today. He's a fantastic guy, and we miss him, but we know he's doing important things today with his family, so we're going to give him a pass, and we miss him. But we understand why and where he is, and we appreciate what he's doing."

Lipe also thanks Source Juicery of Edwardsville for providing healthy snacks and drinks for the players and participants, along with Mahalo Shaved Ice, for providing the kids who attended the program with free shaved ice treats while attending the fourth day's action on the courts. Diodem also provided two bags and equipment to the clinic, which were given to two of the lucky players in the clinic.

"It's a long day, part of a busy and long week," Lipe said. "But we feel like it's an important part of it. And give a lot of credit to Kweisi for making the drive from Iowa, for leaving at two o'clock in the morning, through a nasty storm, to be here, and for his sincere comments regarding his life and his journey. And I personally found him very inspirational; I'm sure the kids found his words inspiring, as well."

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