Leverage tennis as a vehicle to train young people

Creating AJ Tennis Academy International

It was a late summer evening in 2006 and Justin Jennings, who had just moved from New York City, found himself sitting alone in a bar in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Sitting alone a few seats away was Tolu Adeleye, who, too, had recently moved to Minneapolis from NYC.  They struck up a conversation and immediately found they shared a strong common interest: how to make a difference in the world.

While thinking globally was natural for Justin and Tolu, what was highly unlikely was how they met.  Justin, who was born and raised in New Zealand, had just found himself in Minneapolis, to work as a tennis coach with Lifetime Fitness.  Justin had spent time in various parts of Europe, Australia and NYC, as a tennis coach, before moving to Minneapolis.  Born in Washington DC, Tolu had landed in Minneapolis to work in strategy and business development, after spending time in NYC, Boston, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Northern Virginia, Connecticut, Baltimore and Nigeria (where he attended boarding school).  Between them, Justin and Tolu have lived, visited, studied and worked in over 120 countries!

Justin and Tolu bonded over their strong common interest, spending time together every Friday evening discussing how to make a difference in the world over mussels and sushi.  This went on for several months, but it wasn’t until several years later, after Tolu had picked up playing recreational tennis, that the idea struck:  combine education with tennis to teach underprivileged kids in developing countries how to make a positive impact in their world.