She’s A Dream Chaser

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She’s A Dream Chaser!

There is a special event that happens every year in Cleveland on the first full week of June. For nearly 30 years, many of your kids have participated in it on the tennis courts of Lee University. Kids ages 6-13 who desire to learn how to play tennis flood the courts. Amazingly, despite that over 400 kids attend each year, each one feels the love expressed to them by Kay, her 40 instructors, and many volunteers. There’s music with a D.J., T-shirts are given away, and photos are taken. There is terrific instruction given all week. Even a red carpet is laid down on the courts for a premier awards ceremony. But the best news? The entire experience, all week long, has always been completely free! Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Mark Walker and Dr. Paul Conn and their commitment to Cleveland and the surrounding areas. Annually, over 25 cities are typically represented in these clinics.

The director, Kay McDaniel, is a former professional tennis player who was ranked in the top 30 in the world and who competed at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open six times. She has 40 able instructors helping her each year. She not only teaches tennis skills but focuses the clinics on a spiritual theme each day. During the clinics, she shares some of her many inspirational stories of overcoming obstacles in sports and life on her journey to the top level in sports.

From age eleven, she dreamed of becoming a professional tennis player. Her first tennis racquet was a Green Stamp racket, which McDaniel collected 5,000 stamps to obtain. Her mother sewed all her tennis clothes until age fifteen when her achievements earned her tennis’ top sponsorships (Fila, Tail, and Nike) that lasted throughout her career.

McDaniel was ranked #1 in the nation as an amateur, played #1 position for Louisiana State University, and then went on to realize her ultimate dream of competing at tennis’ Grand Slams. For six years, she competed against legendary #1 world-ranked players such as Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, and Steffi Graf. She rose to the top 35 in the world in singles and held a top 20 world ranking in doubles.

Lil Andrews, a veteran clinic instructor for 20 years, said, “Kay’s clinics are an opportunity to serve the Lord and others. It’s so much more than a free sports camp because while they are having great fun, kids are also in relationships with Christfollowing role models and being taught about Jesus. And that’s a win-win situation.”

McDaniel has been a professor at Lee in the Health, Exercise Science, and Secondary Education department for 25 years. For the last five years, she currently advises Lee students by helping them find their strengths, matching them with their career paths, and coaching students on how to successfully overcome obstacles.

Kay will release her second book, Be a Dream Chaser, by LifeStory Publishing, at her tennis clinics this year. This colorfully illustrated children’s book contains many of Kay’s interesting stories describing her pursuit of reaching her dream of becoming a professional tennis player and competing against the greatest players ever to play tennis at the world’s grandest tennis arenas.

McDaniel enjoying participants at the Kay McDaniel Tennis Clinics.

Kay’s Top Instructors for Tennis Clinics around her annual jingle.

30th Annual Kay McDaniel Tennis Clinics Lee University Tennis Courts June 6-10, 2022 | Cost: Free! | Ages: 6-13 Girls: 8am - 10am; Boys: 10:30am - 12:30pm | | All skill levels Registration: Apply online starting April 1st at www.kaymcdanieltennisclinics.com (register now as it fills up quickly)

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