Second Serve charity event to help make tennis accessible to all

July 24, 2023 11:03 AM PT

The Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club will play host to a charity tennis and pickleball social on Sunday, July 30 to raise funds for the youth-led organization Second Serve founded by sisters Ayanna and Amani Shah. The community event will support Second Serve’s High School Inclusion Program, dedicated to making high school tennis accessible to every U.S. teenager.

Ayanna is now a 16-year-old junior at Del Norte High School and 19-year-old Amani is going into her sophomore year of college at Stanford, where she plays club tennis.

A top-ranked junior player in San Diego, Ayanna played in last year’s RSF Open and the RSF SoCal Pro Series. The sisters have been fixtures at the Rancho Santa Fe club since moving to the Del Sur area seven years ago.

“We’ve always felt like the club is a second family to us, and we love being a part of the amazing culture,” said Ayanna. “We are so grateful to the Rancho Santa Fe community’s support over the past few years. Every year, when we host our fundraiser, we are so happy to see the entire community come out to support our cause.”

Last year, thanks to the community’s support, Second Serve was able to support their free tennis program in Escondido for over 120 kids. This year, their goal for the event is to support 50 Title 1 under-resourced high schools across the U.S. with tennis equipment to bolster their teams, Ayanna said.

Since its founding in 2019, Second Serve has helped share the joy of tennis by supporting youth players across the country as well as in countries like Mexico, Uganda, India, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Haiti, Australia, Zimbabwe, Spain, China and more. Their vision is to foster greater access and inclusion within the sport of tennis by giving everyone a chance to play.

“It is absolutely amazing what the power of giving can do,” Ayanna said.