Winner Wonderland: Terry

Coach Armour is one of ACE's Site Coordinators and the physical education teacher for Lincoln Elementary. Last year, Coach Armour worked briefly for another school, but upon returning back to Dolton/Riverdale, she re-joined The ACE Project family. This is her third year with us, and we are thankful to have her expertise and leadership back! Here is her Winner Wonderland story:

Terry is a returning after school tennis athlete.  Terry is a valuable part of our program and we really are lucky to have him.  Terry showed interest in tennis in first grade.  Since his first time attending the ACE Project he has since then purchased his own tennis racket and signed up for more intense summer tennis trainings. 

Terry has an intermediate level of tennis knowledge and understanding of the game.  He works hard to improve his skills every day and is very dedicated to his craft.

Terry is an effective communicator, listens to his peers and coaches, provides relevant feedback when he is paired up with a newer tennis student all on his own!  He is a great assistant coach!

Terry is big on teamwork and working, is very respectable and has a cooperative spirit.  Terry is also a great problem solver.  I often use him and other returning athletes to assist with setting up the gym.  This year we often had to move our program into the hallway.  Terry was able to assist with planning out the best way to use the hall way so that we were able to work on multiple skills at one time.  He assisted with the design as well as building a faux tennis court in the widest portion of the hall.  Since space was limited instead of a full game he suggested we spell out T-E-N-N-I-S (a game very similar to a basketball game called H-O-R-S-E).  Terry was able to explain the game to his classmates and they played while the coaches taped the game for Coach Klumpner.

Overall Terry is a proven leader.  His attendance was stellar and he was always on time.  He could take the lead by showing the expectations to the younger students and we were happy to have him in the program.

Kids are natural problem solvers; they just need an opportunity to hone their leadership skills and practice them in an affirming setting. You can provide more kids, like Terry, the chance to develop these skills by making a donation today to our Winner Wonderland campaign. Thank you for all of the love-love!

Susan Klumpner