MINT HILL, N.C. — Tennis comes naturally to Belen Gomez-Jordana. She has been playing the sport since she was four years old, in Madrid, Spain.
Then, and now, Gomez-Jordana has competed against her father. That experience got her to think about the "next generation" of tennis players. Her passion for the sport led her to introduce other Hispanic families to tennis, even though many of them thought tennis would be a difficult process.
With almost twenty years of experience as a tennis teacher, Gomez-Jordana founded the nonprofit United Tennis Organization in 2021.
She founded the nonprofit with the understanding that many families with financial challenges find the sport unaffordable. To break stereotypes and bring the sport closer to everyone, Belen created the "Tennis for All" program. The program is based on group and individual classes at a very low cost so that any young person can learn the sport.
Gomez-Jordana is a member of the Spanish Tennis Federation, both as a coach and a national referee. In the United States, she obtained the first level of the Coach qualification and is on her way to obtaining the official PTR qualification.
Recently, Belen was appointed to the United States Tennis Association North Carolina Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
With all of her experience and the respect of peers worldwide, this has made her goal to help others even more achievable.
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Belen told WCNC Charlotte she doesn’t want kids to "stay home on the tablet, on the phone, on the computer, but being happy hitting the ball and making friends”.
The organization will be at Veterans Memorial Park in Mint Hill and Collinswood Language Academy offering tennis classes as an after-school program.
As part of the program in Charlotte, the organization will offer the Abilities Tennis program to young people with intellectual disabilities, showing that the sport of tennis is for everyone.
Contact Larry Sprinkle at lsprinkle@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.