- FAMILY SPOTLIGHT -
uring the pandemic, Yawo and Enam
played tennis for the first time at Bushrod park
in Oakland. “We tried all the sports but for
some reason she loved tennis the most,” Yawo
told me. He bought a small tennis racquet
for her and after Enam finished school they’d
play frequently while noticing that a group
of coaches and kids would show up to the
courts everyday for tennis lessons. One day,
YTA’s Bushrod Park Site Director, Cynthia Price,
approached Yawo and asked if Enam wanted
to join YTA. “I initially said no because I didn’t
realize it was free. It looked like something
you had to pay for.” Cynthia insisted it was
free and open to any kids that wanted to play.
Soon Enam was registered and from day 1 she
“loved it.”
Yawo is originally from Togo, a country in West
Africa which Enam described as “some un-
paved roads, lots of mosquitoes, and everyone
is partying until after 1am which is after my
dad’s bedtime.” He immigrated to the United
States to attend UC Berkeley for his Masters
degree and settled in the Bay Area where he
now works at Oakland Private Industry Coun-
cil, a non-profit focused on career develop-
ment and counseling for a wide range of ages.
He works full-time, shows up to help at all the
events YTA hosts, and referees soccer games
6 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
YOUTHTENNISADVANTAGE.ORG 7
Youth Tennis Advantage has a unique story. It’s been around for over 50 years,
making it one of the oldest National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) organizations
in the United States. It’s as multicultural as the neighborhoods it calls home.
Capturing all of what YTA means to the kids and families it supports, therefore,
isn’t easy. Last year we told our story through the perspectives of three of our
alumni. This year we tell you the YTA story from the perspective of a father,
Yawo Tekpa, and his daughter, Enam Tekpa who in many ways embody the
spirit of what YTA is about.
from 9-11 pm most nights. “It’s how I get my
workouts in,” he said with a smile, which by
the way, he’s always smiling.
Enam’s diverse day-to-day schedule did not
happen by chance, but rather by design. “I
want her to have more opportunity than I
did, to explore her own talent, and find it by
trying different things,” Yawo said. Enam is a
rising sophomore at Oakland High School and
counts robotics, learning French, Leadership
Club, anatomy class, gaming, and of course
tennis as part of her days. She reads graphic
novels, wishes she knew how to draw so she
“can create her own storylines,” and wants to
be either a voice actress or a doctor.
At YTA, “everyone knows Enam,”
as she refers to herself in the third-person
demonstrating her outgoing, sociable, and
charming personality. Since she’s one of the
older kids in the Bushrod program,
she’s seen as a leader that helps
tutor the kids and “teaches
them tennis strategies” that her
past coaches taught her.
She likes babysitting and acknowledged with
a laugh that sometimes working with kids is
“more babysitting than it is coaching.”