Children's Academy

of Tennis Excellence

A ludus for competitive tennis athletes from underserved communities.

Learn More

Who We are

A Ludus for competitive tennis athletes from underserved communities in ancient Rome, a Ludus was a training school for Gladiators, who irrespective of their origins inspired admiration and popular acclaim.

Similarly, CATE will strive to develop athletes and instill a sense of competitive spirit that will empower them to excel at national and international levels.

Learn More

Vision

CATE, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, envisions a world where inner city urban youth have access to comprehensive professional athletic training programs to successfully compete in city, state, national and international Championships.

Mission

CATE will partner with local schools, sports programs and community leaders in underserved City of Chicago communities to identify, select and train youth (ages 6 – 18), with specific focus on developing the technical, physical, mental, and sportsmanship skills necessary to compete at elevated tennis and sports championship levels.
Children's Academy of Tennis Excellence

In order for a player to reach their full potential, they will need a coach, support, ability and the will to do whatever it takes to reach success. There is no magic formula when developing a player, with preparation, goal setting, and evaluation, players can improve. As a Coach, I strive to find what is best for the individual to develop their technical, physical, mental, and tactical skills. I never focus on results as winning and losing doesn’t always reflect success. Hard work and grit will supersede talent alone.

Pfungwa Mahefu - CATE's President

CATE Athlete Development Program

Core to CATE’s success is Coach Pfungwa’s Athlete Development Program that is designed to support selected potential athletes, who demonstrate the desire and athletic potential, with the comprehensive coaching in the child’s early development years, and eventually further supporting with age-appropriate physical, mental, and sportsmanship training. Key elements of ADP will include:

Staged Development Plans

Age and skill level-appropriate plans will be tailored to students to introduced and develop to fundamental movement and technical concepts.

Kids should develop a familiarity of the game of tennis, learn about the type of equipment used and also what type of attire is worn for tennis. For youth ages 10 and under, ADP will incorporate USTA’s QuickStart program. With QuickStart, everything is kid-sized - racquets, courts, nets - and instruction is age-appropriate.

Special low-compression balls, simplified scoring, and emphasis on teamwork will be instilled. Through this grassroots process the main goal is to get the kids interested in the game of tennis and expose them to opportunities tennis can offer e.g. individual sport, chance to travel and visit different places, chance to represent their district, region, and country. ADP will also feature age-appropriate fitness and conditioning activities that work on agility, balance, hand-eye coordination, reaction time and footwork. Through the initial introductory period, CATE will also identify athletes who stand out with great speed, agility, balance and coordination. Assessment will be conducted to identify high-performing hand-eye coordination, striking ability and the ability to send and receive for example, in addition to being able to throw and catch. The next development stage will be to separate those that have been identified to have some outstanding abilities in the skills developed earlier.

This stage will focus more strengthening the fundamentals and utilizing proper foot work patterns to execute different shots in tennis. ADP coaches will next focus on performance, as the kids’ skills will have developed to point to introduce them to competition.

Athletes will have opportunities to both compete against each other and as they progress, also compete against kids from other clubs. Students have to find success at each stage before they move up to the next level. ADP will use a matriculation system to advance the kids.

Pre-Training and In-Training Assessment Rubrics

Initial formal assessment and in-training assessment rubrics to determine student competency and tailor training needs. These also allow coaches to informally assess student learning and progress through ageappropriate tasks to test the child’s skill competency. Observations will be utilized to refine training sessions.

Health, Wellness and Nutritional Support

The program will take a holistic approach to training, recognizing that high-quality nutrition is critical to athlete development. This will be conducted in partnership

CATE Athlete Development Program

Core to CATE’s success is Coach Pfungwa’s Athlete Development Program that is designed to support selected potential athletes, who demonstrate the desire and athletic potential, with the comprehensive coaching in the child’s early development years, and eventually further supporting with age-appropriate physical, mental, and sportsmanship training. Key elements of ADP will include:
Learn More

Staged Development Plans

Age and skill level-appropriate plans will be tailored to students to introduced and develop to fundamental movement and technical concepts.
Kids should develop a familiarity of the game of tennis, learn about the type of equipment used and also what type of attire is worn for tennis. For youth ages 10 and under, ADP will incorporate USTA’s QuickStart program. With QuickStart, everything is kid-sized – racquets, courts, nets – and instruction is age-appropriate.
Special low-compression balls, simplified scoring, and emphasis on teamwork will be instilled. Through this grassroots process the main goal is to get the kids interested in the game of tennis and expose them to opportunities tennis can offer e.g. individual sport, chance to travel and visit different places, chance to represent their district, region, and country. coordination.
ADP will also feature age-appropriate fitness and conditioning activities that work on agility, balance, hand-eye coordination, reaction time and footwork. Through the initial introductory period, CATE will also identify athletes who stand out with great speed, agility, balance and
Assessment will be conducted to identify high-performing hand-eye coordination, striking ability and the ability to send and receive for example, in addition to being able to throw and catch. The next development stage will be to separate those that have been identified to have some outstanding abilities in the skills developed earlier.
This stage will focus more strengthening the fundamentals and utilizing proper foot work patterns to execute different shots in tennis. ADP coaches will next focus on performance, as the kids’ skills will have developed to point to introduce them to competition.
Athletes will have opportunities to both compete against each other and as they progress, also compete against kids from other clubs. Students have to find success at each stage before they move up to the next level. ADP will use a matriculation system to advance the kids.

Pre-Training and In-Training Assessment Rubrics

Initial formal assessment and in-training assessment rubrics to determine student competency and tailor training needs. These also allow coaches to informally assess student learning and progress through ageappropriate tasks to test the child’s skill competency. Observations will be utilized to refine training sessions.

Health, Wellness and Nutritional Support

The program will take a
holistic approach to training, recognizing that high-quality nutrition is
critical to athlete development. This will be conducted in partnership

Conclusion and next steps

CATE envisions a world where inner city urban youth have access to comprehensive professional athletic training programs to successfully compete in city, state, national and international Championships.
It’s on mission to partner with local schools, sports programs and community leaders in underserved City of Chicago communities to identify, select and train youth (ages 6 – 18), with specific focus on developing the technical, physical, mental, and sportsmanship skills necessary to compete at elevated sports championship levels.
Long-term, CATE will strive to become a model for sporting academies aimed at developing high-performing competitive athletes from underserved communities.

Immediate next steps involve:

Form an advisory board
Capture needed funding to launch and sustain CATE
Share business plan and solicit support from key individuals
Establish relationships with the target partner schools
Refine phased operating model and capital budgets

Stay updated with what's happening at Children's Academy of Tennis Excellence