BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford men's tennis team won the Community Service Award from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), when the organization released its postseason awards earlier this week.
 
The Bulldogs won the award for the Southern Region. The ITA separates its members into 12 regions which include Atlantic, Carolina, Central, Midwest, Mountain, Northeast, Northwest, Ohio Valley, Southeast, Southern, Southwest and Texas.
 
The Samford men's tennis team was extremely active in community service during the 2016-17 academic year. The community service projects include the Inaugural Samford University Men's Tennis Team Youth Outreach Program, which was organized in honor of Bernard Carr.
 
For the project, the program was able to raise over $7,000 to go to inner city and underprivileged elementary school kids who don't necessarily get the opportunity to participate in organized sports. The fundraising was able to pay for racquets, shoes, meals and a tennis clinic for each participant.
 
The Samford University Men's Tennis Youth Outreach Program is an initiative the program looks to grow each year and provide more and more kids with opportunities they would not get exposed to otherwise, and to continue to give back to the sport of tennis, and to the community.
 
In addition to the outreach program, the Bulldogs participated in numerous other community service engagements, such as Project Angel Tree, as well as reading to elementary school kids in the Birmingham area.
 
For more information on the Samford University Men's Tennis Youth Outreach Program, contact head coach Rahim Esmail at resmail@samford.edu.