The USTA Dinkins Grant’s Impact
Baluck Deang understands both the opportunity and the strain tennis can create. The sport opened a pathway to college, but it also exposed pressures that push many players out: limited resources, isolation and the sense that tennis was not designed with everyone in mind. Those experiences shaped her decision to coach, not simply to remain in the sport, but to help reshape it for those coming next.
For Deang and Dedric “Zack” Ray, both former Historically Black College and University (HBCU) student-athletes, the journey into coaching was not linear. It was built through access: coaching certifications, mentors who made the profession feel attainable and financial support from the USTA David N. Dinkins HBCU Coaching Grant that turned possibility into action.
Turning Coaching Potential into a Career Reality
Ray began playing tennis at age six through an after-school program on public courts. He practiced constantly, sometimes against the back wall at home, until a coach encouraged him to compete. He knew he wanted an HBCU experience, and after visiting Xavier University of Louisiana, he committed.
Coaching emerged gradually. After his first year of college, Ray needed a summer job. Tennis was the natural fit, but the work carried meaning: teaching kids on public courts in underdeveloped communities. Coaching became tangible, not theoretical.
When USTA Coaching hosted a Level 1 certification weekend on campus, organized with help from Darnesha Moore, USTA Coaching Senior Manager of Coach Education Delivery, Ray earned his credential. “Everything costs money,” Ray noted. But by covering the costs of the workshop and certification, the grant allowed him to focus on his craft rather than the price of entry. That led to a summer role at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York, a place he quickly fell in love with.
The Dinkins Grant is awarded to HBCU tennis programs, providing underfunded teams with the equipment and resources they need to thrive. Perhaps its most vital component is the free coach education workshop.
By offering these workshops for free to HBCU teams, USTA Coaching in partnership with the USTA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion department removes the initial financial hurdle of professional development. For players like Ray and Deang, this wasn't just a weekend of training; it was the first door opening into a career they hadn’t previously seen as attainable.
Seeing the Path, Leading the Way
Deang’s turning point came from nearly losing her love for tennis. She began playing at age five at her mother’s encouragement and quickly fell in love. Her parents viewed sports as a path to college – but college tennis did not guarantee belonging. After transferring to an HBCU, she found supportive teammates but struggled with isolation, team dynamics and mental health pressures amplified by the individual nature of tennis.
Her next HBCU experience at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, changed that. A Black coach, relatable teammates and a stronger sense of community shifted her perspective. For the first time, she saw Black women in coaching – Moore among them – and realized the pathway was real.
“Seeing what I never had growing up really inspired me,” Deang said. “When Darnesha helped us get Level 1 certified, I said, ‘This is something I can see myself doing.’ When I coached someone who looked like me and saw their face light up, I fell in love with that, having an impact on kids that look like me and may have dealt with some of the same challenges I did.”
The Dinkins Grant supported her program in concrete ways: For Deang, getting her Level 1 certification motivated her to get her Level 2 certification through the fellowship program, and ultimately to pursue a coaching career. providing equipment and resources often out of reach for underfunded HBCU tennis programs. That investment mattered not just practically, but symbolically. It signaled that the environment was worth supporting.
Building What Comes Next
Today, Deang coaches in Myrtle Beach, S.C., working with players of all ages while learning the business side of tennis with plans to open her own academy. Her vision is intentionally inclusive, spanning adaptive and wheelchair tennis, an idea made personal by watching her sister, who has a disability, thrive through sport.
She’s already working to lower cost barriers, organizing affordable clinics and challenging the perception that tennis is inaccessible. Future grant support, she hopes, will fund equipment and coaching and help make tennis more affordable.
Ray, now 22, coaches at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York. The opportunity required leaving home and comfort, but the grant helped him pursue the path he wanted, where he wanted, with continued mentorship shaping his growth.
For both coaches, the mission extends beyond individual success. Representation matters. Access matters. They’re building programs that widen who can play tennis, and who keeps playing tennis.
The Fellowship represents the bridge between potential and professional. It’s a rigorous 12-week program in Orlando, Fla., designed to train aspiring coaches in all aspects of foundational coaching and leadership, where participants work toward their USTA Coaching Professional Certification.
Diversifying the Industry
The ultimate goal of the Dinkins Grant is to encourage HBCU players to become coaches, providing a valuable personal and professional development opportunity, and an important step to a potential career path in tennis. This grant reinforces the tennis industry’s commitment to supporting HBCU collegiate tennis and increasing diversity among certified coaching professionals. By funding HBCU programs and providing free certification pathways, USTA Coaching is intentionally diversifying the workforce.
Ray and Deang are the next generation of leaders and stewards in this sport. Ray is helping shape the next generation of players in New York, while Deang is making tennis more open and accessible in South Carolina.
The USTA Dinkins Grant program is continuing to expand, ensuring that the path from the HBCU courts to the coaching ranks remains open.
