(drum music)
My name is George Marty Woods.
I'm the Executive Director
of the Pete Brown Junior Tennis Program
located in Los Angeles, California.
That's okay, ball down, swing!
There we go, nice play!
(quiet electronic music)
The Pete Brown Junior Tennis Program offers free,
year-round tennis and academic support.
This program is mainly for inner-city,
underserved minority children.
There's gangs in the area.
There's rival gangs in the area,
so we provide a safe haven for the kids.
We never turn any kids away
whether it's their financial situations
or whether they haven't hit a ball at all.
Everything in our program is free for the kids,
the coaching, shoes, attire, equipment, everything.
Of course we don't have the funds
to go out and pay coaches
so these coaches volunteer their time
and we rely on donations from good-hearted people
who wanna make an impact in our community.
I was once one of these kids.
I was six years old.
I grew up fatherless in that community
and what got us was Pete Brown said,
"You guys wanna learn how to play the sport of tennis?
"You get a free tennis racket."
Once we saw that our eyes lit up
and the next week we were on the tennis court.
Unfortunately in 2009, Pete passed away
and left a void in that community.
And of course, I was a hundred percent in to help
and give back to the same program
that helped me get to where I am today.
Nice job, nice!
He's been a fabulous coach on and off the court.
He wants you to grow as a tennis player,
but also as a person.
Pete Brown and Marty have been
just a wonderful, supporting group for us.
I just wish they had a Pete Brown program
in all the cities, because they're needed.
On top of this program
I have a full-time job
and a family that I support,
so this is really passionate to me.
In many ways this program is more
than just teaching kids tennis.
One of our goals this year is to help the kids
eat healthy and help their families prepare healthier meals.
It's about developing kids in this community
into productive members of society.
(audience cheering) Please welcome Marty Woods!
(upbeat music)
Hi, Marty! (audience cheering)
How are you?
Nice to meet you, darling. (audience cheering)
So Marty,
our organization, Yum-o,
has been working in communities and schools large and small,
on projects just like what you're attacking,
to make that connection for people
between a child's success at school
and what they eat and their physical activity.
I love that you have a new goal this year
about involving them in eating healthier as families, too.
Yes, because as you know,
it's tough for inner-city community kids
to eat well That's right.
because there are no healthy eating options
in communities. That's right
because all of our low-cost food,
unfortunately, is our most processed food, right?
Correct, correct.
So we've actually hooked up with a really young,
talented chef that's really creating a menu
that's affordable and healthy for our community kids.
That's amazing.
What's the chef's name? Chef Roman.
Hi, Chef Roman, we love you! (laughing)
Yes, yes. So he's just really dynamic,
and we're so lucky to have him.
And talk about the changes that you see
in the children once they
start moving more,
do you see them academically excel as well?
Of course, because we have, actually, an academic program.
We actually help them with their academics.
We bring in-- So it's 360.
Yes, yes.
Not only do we support them on the courts,
we actually bring in academic tutoring
to help them with stuff
they're having trouble with at school.
What I love about this story
and the work that you're doing is
we don't have to wait for our politicians to do this.
Every single person in this room
can go out and be responsible
for a young person and change that person's life.
I agree, I agree 100%.
You're absolutely right.
Stop waiting for them to help us!
We're Americans, we can help ourselves.
We aren't the only people inspired by your story.
We have a message from the most successful
doubles players of all time.
Together they have won a career Golden Slam,
sixteen Doubles Grand Slam titles,
and an Olympic Gold.
Showoffs, really.
Here's a message for you from the Bryan brothers.
Oh wow, are you kidding me? No.
Hi, I'm Mike.
Over the last nine years, the Bryan Bros Foundation
has donated 1.5 million dollars to deserving kids' programs
in southern California and across the country.
I'm Bob, and if you don't know,
we are retiring after the 2020 US Open,
but we want to do more with our foundation in retirement.
When we learned about the Pete Brown Junior Tennis Program
and all the great things he's doing for kids,
we wanted to get involved.
Our dad was a friend of Pete.
We remember him from our days playing junior team tennis.
He was a great coach and he did so much for kids.
And that's why we're excited to announce today
that we want to donate ten thousand dollars
to the Pete Brown Junior Tennis Program.
Shout out to Rachael Ray for shining a light on this.
We hope to see these kids on the courts in L.A. soon.
(audience cheering)
How cool is that giant check, look!
Woo! (audience cheering)
(cheerful music)
(swooshing)