As the tennis season begins to gain traction, senior Sydney Wolfe releases her non-profit organization One Ball At A Time in order to help the less fortunate and the environment. The organization works to reduce unnecessary waste and donate to people in need.

Wolfe began her journey to create this organization on a college trip this previous summer, hoping to find something meaningful that she could use to help the community with. Because tennis has been an important part of her life for 10 years, Wolfe became fascinated by the pollution tennis produces. Tennis balls in the environment create a health hazard because of their long decomposition time.

One Ball At A Time collects tennis balls to donate to another organization, Samaritan’s Purse, where they are placed into gifts for children in need around the world. Wolfe also donates tennis balls to local dog parks and animal shelters.

“We’ve collected over seven thousand balls and we hope to reach ten thousand by the end of the year,” said Wolfe.

When the tennis balls are not in great condition, she donates them to the organization, RecycleBalls, who transforms them into something completely new, such as the surface of a tennis court.

Running a non-profit organization, Wolfe faces challenges, having to spend her own pocket money and relying on donations to acquire funding. Although, she explains that there are benefits to running a non-profit organization. “The benefit is that it’s just really rewarding to have big results [when you use your own resources],” said Wolfe.

The biggest benefactor of this organization is the environment. Since a single tennis ball takes around four hundred years to decompose, she hopes to minimize the waste of tennis balls on the environment.

Down the line, Wolfe hopes to continue making change with her non-profit and love for tennis.