Coan Tennis Association, Inc. is a non-profit organization that introduces tennis to adults and children. Our target audience is inner city and low-income candidates but our free service is open to anyone who would otherwise not have an opportunity to learn the game. A secondary goal is to encourage and enable volunteerism using tennis as a vehicle. Lee Bennett had the idea to form an association while he was coaching the boys junior tennis team in 1980 at Coan Park. Coan Tennis Association was established and incorporated in 1985 by Lee and six female beginner tennis players: Janet Cooper, Johnetta Stewart, Wanda Haywood, Deborah Hudgeons, Gail Jenkins and Delphine Reese.
 

Coan Tennis Association, Inc. operates out of Coan Park. CTA is allowed to work as an independent entity out of the city park because we provide a service to the community. Our twenty-year presence has sustained life in an activity that is not common to or highly received by low income and inner city communities.

 

We applied for and received our 501c(3) status in 1993.