What We Do

CATE’S goal is to grow the love of and enthusiasm for tennis early in kids development and create a pathways for them to compete. CATE will partner with local schools, sports programs and community leaders to introduce tennis in undeserved City of Chicago communities. In addition to building awareness and interest in recreational tennis, CATE will create the opportunity for talented youth ages 6-18 to develop the technical, physical, mental, and professional tennis and sports championship levels.

(Participation by Schools Age Chart source: USTA publication: Positioning Youth Tennis for Success).

Core to CATE’s success is a Coach Pfungwa’s Athete Development Program (“ADP”) 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. 

While other program utilize the sport of tennis primarily as vehicle for community uplift, CATE’s primary focus will be on developing competitive tennis athletes from underserved Chicago communities.

We believe there is tremedous potential to develop competitive championship tennis players in Chicago. Chicago produce some of the best athletes in the country, but tennis in Chicago has not been able to capture many of these great athletes because of lack of early access, exposure, mentoring and role models has meant that these athletes have gravitated to other sports. Children’s Academy for Tennis Excellence (“CATE”),founded by Couch Pfungwa Mahefu, will strive to create opportunities and access to create tennis athletes who reflect the same diversity as found in other sports.

The 15 initial Chicago Public Schools (“CPS”) district schools identified for initial partnership represent a total youth population of ~7,000 students, ~98% of whom are either Hispanic or Black.

All 15 schools have active sports and fitness programs covering football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, track, and swimming, but not a single school provides its structured exposure to tennis. This scenario repeats across the broader 476 CPS Elementary Schools that serve 224,000 students; tennis. even that at a very basic level, is rarely offered. Moreover, around the country tennis is mainly a suburban sport or a members-only sport. All these factors interact to create a spiraling effect whereby inner-city youth cannot relate to the sport given the dearth of tennis players from similar backgrounds who can serve as role models. 

CATE will be structured to operate across two phases. In Phase 1, its core Athlete Development Program will focus on competitive tennis while in parallel establishing the CATE Sports Academy. In Phase 2, the program will be expanded to include additional competitive sports, potentially including soccer, track, basketball, and racquetball.

We envision CATE to become a model for sporting academies aimed at developing high-performing competitive athletes from underserved communities.