"I give my total support to the Donkor Tennis and Education Foundation because I believe this foundation can offer opportunities to people that have very little opportunity to achieve. " Nick Bollettieri.
Isaac Donkor initiated the Donkor Tennis and Education Foundation Inc. (DTEF) because of his passion for the sport, his country and desire to help the underprivileged children. DTEF is registered as a 501C3 charity and relies on donations to allow those children to have opportunities, ambitions and careers, all of which Isaac had to work so hard for; from barefoot tennis in Ghana to College Graduate through Scholarship to Davis cup.
here are young Girls and Boys in Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe with untouched athletic talent. Through the DTEF, facilities will be built where these young athletes are going to have the opportunities to play tennis in a safe environment. They also have a place to study, learn basic life skills, self-respect, sportsmanship and discipline. In addition, the children will have the chance to compete and exchange dreams. These facilities will be a place where dreams are born and doors are opened to those gifts within the children through Tennis. All scholarship students will have the opportunity to study Math, English, Science, History, Geography and S.A.T testing in preparation for College
Ten years ago Isaac purchased land in Ghana with his own savings, with the dream of starting this Foundation. Since then, DTEF has worked tirelessly, raising awareness of tennis throughclinics and tournaments which resulted in starting the foundation a year ago. The DTEF has started to build its first Tennis facility in Ghana, which will consist of five Tennis courts, with a stadium, classrooms, offices, Gym, pro-shop and locker rooms. Since forming the Foundation,the money raised has allowed us to go from forest land to a workable base for our tennis facility .
We have also used some of the money to run free clinics and tournaments in Ghana, attended by 70+ kids last year, most of whom were boys. This year in June we are joining forces with the Ghana Tennis association and the Alisa Hotel in Ghana to run a three day event at the Accra sports stadium. This stadium will have access to 4 courts with plenty of seating for spectators and great opportunities for media coverage. It is also hoped more girls will be encouraged to participate. Television and radio stations were essential to our event last year and both are extremely keen to help us again this year which will give potential sponsors plenty of exposure and advertising.
Finally we are looking to expand our recruitment to Zimbabwe and Tanzania this year. We will be hosting clinics in these two countries this summer to try to raise awareness and to eventually expand our foundation.
Sponsors of the DTEF event will be able to advertise at the clinic, as well as the possibility of having a court at our facility named after their company.
The DTEF has put together a great team of Directors, all of which are dedicated to the success of the Foundation. The team consists of Tennis coaches, Ex Ghana Davis cup players and tennis enthusiasts.