TUR Mini Magazine Sports Section of The Urban Release | Page 6

Marty Hennessy
  Tennis Pro
  Putting Kids
   First
By:  Sabrina Williams

M

arty Hennessy is
a ­
quiet, gracious
man. He puts ­
others
first and makes it a
point to not talk about himself.
This humble and

­dynamic man is the founder of the
Marty Hennessy Junior Tennis Foundation where he partnered with
Ryan Wolfington the co-founder of
VegasTennis.com and together they
have raised over $600,000.00 for
children who are in need in the Las
Vegas tennis community.
Marty’s passion for tennis started when he was 14 years old.
His family suffered financially, however; Marty would not
let that hold him down. He
worked day and night during
the summer, both on school
breaks and after school to
learn the game of tennis.
He was able to assimilate quickly to the sport
and would often assist
in coaching other children. It has been reported that because

04

| Sports

his family struggled financially, his
parents could not afford to pay for
him to receive individual tennis lessons. The director of the facility noticed his hard work and provided
free lessons, something he would
not take for granted. Marty worked
extra hard and continued on his
path of learning the true art of tennis,
mastered some skills and sometimes
even competed in competitions.
Although he had an intense love for
the sport of tennis, at the age of 16
years old, Marty decided to take a
much needed break from competition and started teaching individual tennis lessons, while ­participating
in group lessons at his home ­tennis
academy. This transition gave him
the ability to see his strength in
teaching other children the game of
tennis. Additionally, he was able to
understand the structure, cognitive

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