LOVE ALL × Girls Rule the Court
A 4th grader in Baltimore picks up a tennis racket for the first time. Her coach is a woman who looks like her. The lesson isn’t just about the forehand — it’s about showing up, communicating, handling a loss, trusting herself under pressure. An hour later, she’s in a Social Emotional Learning session with the same coach, working on the same skills in a different language.
That’s Girls Rule the Court. And the Kodjoe Family Foundation helped make it happen.
What the Program Is
Girls Rule the Court is a free program run by the USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation for girls in 4th through 6th grade — ages 7 to 13. It’s built specifically for BIPOC and underrepresented communities, and it runs a model that’s deliberately different from a standard youth sports program.
Every week: one hour of tennis, one hour of Social Emotional Learning. All sessions led by female coaches and mentors. The design is holistic from the start — the sport isn’t separate from the life skills. They’re the same lesson, taught two ways.
Current locations (pilot phase): Baltimore, Maryland · Loudoun County, Virginia · Charlottesville, Virginia · Louisa, Virginia.
Why the USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation
The USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation has a clear, simple mission: Tennis creates community, character, and well-being. Girls Rule the Court is that mission in practice. Not tennis for the talented. Not tennis for kids whose parents can pay. Tennis as infrastructure for development in communities that have been systematically underserved by the sport.
The Kodjoe Family Foundation’s Role
The Kodjoe Family Foundation helped fund Girls Rule the Court through the Tennis Creates Gala in December 2024. That event — bringing together donors, supporters, and the broader Foundation community — directly contributed to the program’s expansion and sustainability.
Boris and Nicole attended. They’ve watched what happens when girls from underrepresented communities get access to a sport that has historically excluded them. They’ve seen the confidence it builds. And they understand that what GRTC is doing — pairing athletic development with emotional intelligence, led by mentors who look like the kids they’re coaching — is exactly the model LOVE ALL is built on.
The Bigger Picture
Every GRTC participant is a potential future LOVE ALL scholar. Every week of SEL work is the foundation for the discipline and self-belief that takes a young person from a borrowed court in Baltimore to a tournament in France. The pipeline starts here.
And this summer, as GRTC’s Citi Open tie-in event approaches in Washington, DC — LOVE ALL and Girls Rule the Court will be on the same stage, in front of the world.
