Love ALL Tennis Match Returns to Support Interfaith Philadelphia
Do Something
Go to the Dear ALL fundraiser
Dominicus, September fifteen
1pm-4pm
Westtown School
975 Westtown Road
West Chester, PA 19382
Admission is $50 for youth players, $75 for adults, $30 for spectators and $200 per family
Register and bank check out sponsorship opportunitieshere .
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Learn more nearly Love ALL
Scout this video to hear from sometime pro tennis player Fazal Syed and learn more than about the mission of Beloved ALL.
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About Interfaith Philadelphia
Interfaith Philadelphia offers workplace preparation, a monthly book group, community conversations, opportunities to visit a diversity of faith groups in and effectually Philly, and more. You lot can donate, volunteer and cheque out ways to get involved here.
The Denizen Recommends: Dear ALL
This Sun, lawn tennis enthusiasts of all skill levels can come up together to support the work of Interfaith Philadelphia
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Do Something
Go to the Beloved ALL fundraiser
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Video
Learn more about Dear ALL
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Nearly Interfaith Philadelphia
The Denizen Recommends: Dear ALL
This Sunday, tennis enthusiasts of all skill levels tin come up together to back up the work of Interfaith Philadelphia
Sep. 10, 2019
"Are you guys all trying to kill our kids?"
The woman laughed nervously equally she said it, conspicuously regretting her knee-jerk reaction as before long as the undeniably racist words were out of her mouth. Only in that location they were, hanging in the air after Fazal Syed—a Muslim, Indian-born one-time professional tennis player—answered the prying adult female'south questions nearly where he was born and what religion he practiced.
He'd been making pocket-sized talk with the woman on a flight out of Philly one winter twenty-four hour period in 2015, en route to a coaching conference in Florida, and had just helped her teen son load his luggage into the overhead compartment—hardly a murderous act.
"I'm brown and I accept a beard," Syed says, addressing the superficial cues that oft trigger others' latent tendencies to discriminate. "And here was this woman from Bucks County who was an engineer and was going to her second home in Florida, and she just had no inkling," Syed recalls. Merely instead of recusing himself from further chat, which would have been understandable, Syed chose to appoint further.
"In tennis, the score always starts at love-all. So I feel the 'game' of life should start with that too," Syed says.
"We wound upwards having a really meaningful talk near what news sources she turned to, how many other Muslim people she'd actually met in her life and other stereotypes she'd held onto," Syed says. As the flight landed, Syed extended an invitation for his seat mate and her family to visit his mosque whatever fourth dimension, to learn more about it.
The interaction stayed with Syed, and soon thereafter he shared the details of it with a dear friend, Courtenay Willcox, who'd known Syed since he first emigrated to the U.S. in 1995. The friends decided to arrange visits for their fellow congregants between Syed's Valley Forge mosque and Willcox'south Presbyterian church in Bryn Mawr. It was there that Syed met Abby Stamelman Hocky, founder and executive director of Interfaith Philadelphia, the nonprofit that bloomed in the wake of 9/eleven to fuel interfaith agreement and relationships—and whose work, in 2019, may just be more important than ever.
"I institute out Abby was a tennis player, and before I knew it, I said, 'Hey mind, I'd dear to practice something with tennis and Interfaith Philadelphia—would you want that?'" She and her arrangement did—and then began Love ALL: Get on Courtroom, Build Bridges, Connect Hearts, a fundraiser that invites tennis lovers of all skill levels to join Syed and professional coaches from around the region for a day of adult and children's clinics, and to cheer on an exhibition match between coaches.
The third annual consequence, on Sunday, September 15, at Westtown Schoolhouse in W Chester, will be emceed by the Sixers' Archie Berwick, and feature the Sixers Dunk Team. "Sport is life and life is sports," Syed likes to say; partnering with other local teams, he feels, sends the message that sports of all kinds assistance bring people together.
"Sport is life and life is sports," Syed likes to say; partnering with other local teams, he feels, sends the message that sports of all kinds help bring people together.
The director of Westtown'due south lawn tennis program, Syed too runs a tennis coaching business called Level seven Tennis, a nod to seven virtues he learned of while exploring Islam on his ain after 9/11: wisdom, knowledge, courage, manufacture, courtesy, compassion and the chapters to be known for your contribution. But he takes no proceeds from the day'southward events; everything goes straight to Interfaith Philadelphia, whose offerings range from collaborative customs arts programs and tours of local places of worship to alternative spring breaks for students, workplace diversity trainings and more than. Last year's effect raised $18,000, and this year the goal is $20,000. (The first 76 registrants will get a Sixers hat and T-shirt.)
What Syed does get out of the mean solar day, he says, is something greater: the opportunity to use his platform for something meaningful.
"In lawn tennis, the score always starts at dear-all. So I feel the 'game' of life should start with that, too," he says. "Through tennis, I've been fortunate to travel the world, I've played with people from all over the earth"—one of his virtually successful mixed-doubles partnerships was, fittingly, with the Israeli lawn tennis actor Ofer Sela—"and interacting with different people helps bulldoze away the fear that comes from ignorance."
Photo courtesy Amanda Maher
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/love-all-interfaith-philadelphia-2019/
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