Our Model

The mission of A's & Aces is to provide academic assistance, life skills and tennis to New Orleans public school children and others who seek access to high-quality academic assistance and tennis.  This 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization was founded in 2008 with a tennis-based youth development outreach model that seeks to expose and engage many young children to our sport, while retaining those with high interest in competing to be the best they can be in the classroom and on the courts, and to use these skills to assist their pathway to college and throughout life.

  Latest Ne​ws
Click the link for info about the A's & Aces - NORD Fall Jr Open, a USTA sanctioned tournament to be held Nov. 15-17, 2019 at the Joe Brown Park Tennis Center.
​A's & Aces was incorporated as a nonprofit in January 2008, holding its first event that May at Tulane's Goldring Tennis Center.
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A's & Aces named 
TennisIndustry    
"National Junior Tennis & Learning  2017 Organization of the Year"
A's & Aces was honored as 2017 National Junior Tennis & Learning Organization of the Year by Tennis Industry  magazine. The publication’s January 2018 issue  is the magazine’s 17th annual “Champions of Tennis Awards,” which honors people, businesses and organizations dedicated to improving the sport and business of tennis. The Award was presented at a banquet held at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans ballroom. Click here to read the article about A's & Aces in Tennis Industry, on p.37.
   Let AMAZON Donate to US Whenever You Shop! 
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If you are an Amazon Shopper, please use AmazonSmile! It provides the exact same services, but, by selecting  A's & Aces and using the Smile version, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate to help our kids every time you shop!!

Click here to learn how easy it is to select A's & Aces and help put smiles on our kids' faces!
Fall Saturday Clinics at JBPTC
A's & Aces has two 2019
NJTL Essay Contest Winners, including a 1st National Winner 
For their winning Essays in the 2019 NJTL Essay Contest, Keena Hughes and James Bostick  won amazing trips. 

Kenna won the Southern Section award for Louisiana and continued the multi-year streak for A's & Aces student-athletes who have earned a trip to the Winston-Salem Open!  

James was one of only 10 winners at the National level to win amazing trips, with a parent, to New York, and he is  the first from A's & Aces to win at this level. The USTA Foundation and the Contest sponsor, Deloitte US, made this experience possible.

CONGRATULATIONS, James and Keena!
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Keena with Frances Tiafoe

Featured SponsorS

Second Serve Tennis Center maintains a "drop box" where anyone can donate new or used shoes that will  be given to deserving A's & Aces student-athletes.
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Click this photo to view a slideshow

NJTL 2012-13 & 2017 National "Chapter of the Year"

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Among over 600 NJTL chapter organizations across the country, the United States Tennis Association honored A's & Aces as the National Junior Tennis & Learning "Chapter of the Year" for  2012-13 and produced the video below as part of the award.​ (Click below  to play the 2 min. video.) Tennis Industry magazine selected A's & Aces as NJTL "Chapter of the Year" again in 2017.

                    Tennis                                   Life Skills                                      Academics

Some may, initially, think that tennis is "just a game" and is the least important component of A's & Aces' tripartite mission. Actually, tennis is the key.  It unlocks barriers. Sports-Based Youth Development is recognized as an unparalleled way to engage underserved, disadvantaged, and minority populations. While character developing life-skills and academic support are critical to having successful, productive lives, the sport of tennis also provides the ability to build social, academic and career networks through playing a fun, life-long, global, non-contact, co-ed, team and individual sport.  This provides incredible benefits to our participants - and for society. 

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all kinds of discrimination.”
​ – Nelson Mandela, May 25, 2000