Our Story

For twenty years, the USTA has been teaching tennis in Hawaii. It all started in 2000 when we approached a handful of public parks to ask if we could host a free beginner tennis clinic at their locations. While we had only planned for one lesson, the popularity of the clinics made it clear to us that Hawaii loves tennis and wanted more. Thus, we created a six-week program called “Tennis 123” at six different parks, including Aiea, Makiki, and Koko Head, to name a few. Our goal was to make tennis a fun, social and accessible sport. To do that, we decided to offer group classes to foster camaraderie and keep costs low.

As word begin to spread, our classes filled up quickly. To meet the demand, we had to bring on more coaches and add new locations. We also learned that people were coming from many different points in their tennis journey. Some had never picked up a racket before while others played years ago and were looking to get back into tennis. As a result, we began to include classes of different levels for youth and adults, from beginner to intermediate and advanced.

After six years of running Tennis 123, we realized that as much as Hawaii wanted to learn tennis, many of them just wanted to play. So in 2007, we renamed our program to Play And Learn, because at the heart of every tennis player is the desire to have fun. Over the past two decades, we have evolved from six parks to over 25 locations across the Hawaiian Islands. Our program is the largest of its kind in Hawaii, with over 5000 participants annually. Our love for tennis continues to grow and we are honored to share the joy of tennis with all of Hawaii. We look forward to serving you for the next 20 years and beyond!