As we celebrate one year Sunday July 17th, we are giving back to community by raising awareness about a sport that has the potential to re-establish and strengthen community. That is what Steve Chagnon and the Tennis League Network, located in major cities in the US, is all about as they engender engagement and networking at the community levels while popularizing the sport and providing opportunities for tennis players and interests to get together to play at the non-professional level. We here at The Neoliberal Round Podcast and The Neoliberal Corporation are working to do our part in promoting and developing tennis by facilitating awareness and providing free tennis racquets to children and young people in communities such as Philadelphia, where racquets are very expensive and tennis is seen as a "white/privileged sport," but it is not. We have been going to basketball courts to demonstrate tennis visibly among these groups so that they can become interested, aware and motivated to want to play. We also give racquets to these interests who eventually begin learning to play the game. But we need your help to do so and have given out over 100 racquets already, that we have restrung and re-gripped for prospects we meet at in these communities at parks. We discussed this with Steve who indicated during the interview that he will donate some racquets to our efforts. The interview with Steve was about one hour long and we learned his motivation for starting the Tennis League Network which is running in 44 cities: Boston, Philadelphia, L.A., New York, D.C., etc. He stated that the Tennis League Network is celebrating 17 years and is about to begin its Summer Flex league tournament in several cities beginning July 20th. There is also the fall league which will begin in September. The winners and top players will square off in Miami in December. In fact, over 125 players compete in Tennis Philly alone, while New York, Boston and L.A. have even many more competitors. In the interview, Steve stated that he does not get any support from the USTA and that they have a different idea about tennis and how to develop the sport which is not necessarily ideal or working. Steve explained that while the women are doing well, men's tennis in the US needs help as there has not been much top players from the US in recent times. However, he stated that the USTA's team tennis is effective in developing tennis and developing competitors who can compete and win but that more can be done at the community levels and that programs like the Tennis Leagues Network can be supported in a more effective way by the USTA which may help to boost awareness among younger people and rediscovering its growth and popularity which has lapsed or slowed over the years. His vision for the Tennis League Network is to move beyond just having singles tournaments and having or adding tennis socials; whereby more than just two people meet up for any given match. He is hoping to have tennis parties and networking events that hosts several competitors and players in one meeting. We concluded by talking about the current top players in the league and he explained that each top players from the various leagues will meet up in December to compete against each other. All are invited to come to the event in Miami, December 2-4, 2022. For more information about the Tennis League Network, you may visit them at www.tennisleaguenetwork.com. You can register there for tournaments, meet other players in your city and or become a supporter by donating and visiting any of the tournaments coming up. Also, you may also register for the competition coming up in December where all the leagues in the network get together to compete against each other. The Neoliberal Round and The Neoliberal Corporation will cover some of these events when we can and will join Steve and the league to promote tennis by sharing opportunities like these and doing a tennis racquet drive.   

This is part 3 of a 4 part series on Caribbean, Diaspora and Pan African Thought. The episode begins with some comments on the news: 1. The Supreme Court strikes down a New York gun law making it easier for Americans to carry guns; 2. Joe Biden’s Administration cancels another 6 billion debt in student loan and 3. An 18 year old massacred 19 children and 2 teachers in Uvalde Texas. We then break for ads and then get into the series where we continue from last week. This was a lecture I was giving to students in a class I taught at the Jamaica Theological Seminary where I taught Caribbean Thought. The lecture continues looking at the question of who we are and what we are. In the lecture I briefly outline the history that Caribbean thought contends with and ask the question: is the Caribbean (and it’s Diaspora) an invention of the 21st century, and if it is, must it now be reinterpreted and transcended? And how can we do that? By recapturing our own and capitalizing on opportunities that is revolutionary and make for competition. We further make the point that the Caribbean must be seen as a collective. Yet, the Caribbean’s unity is haphazard, not strategically targeting and effective. The Caribbean is an interdependent set of people who need to now recapture and reinterpret themselves by revisiting their history and being objective about it so as to then produce that which us unique to them. What is quite true is that the Caribbean’s inability to chart their own course since decolonization and realize real political independence and economic prosperity. What voice do you have as a Caribbean thinker and what are the threats to that voice? Are Caribbean countries truly free of the external and this illusion of freedom comes within competing worldviews. What of the issue of bias? We utilize Kenneth Clark’s “Dark Ghetto, Dilemmas of social power” to help us distill some of the concepts and explore the questions and our thoughts. We also referred ti my book “Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty And Resistance” to discuss these ideas. We delved into the issue of how identity presents an issue, by looking at how things are viewed, because of determinations based in analysis influenced by a brand that then lead to a branded perspective. We explored the problem of study and the issue of position and hierarchy within studies especially between the subject and the observer. We then begin to look at the issue of the “ghetto” but will take that up at the conclusion next episode. Thanks for all your support and send us a feedback, share our show with your friends and donate to us at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal/support. Renaldo McKenzie is the creator of The Neoliberal Round brought to you by The Neoliberal Corporation, serving the world today to solve tomorrow’s challenges. Visit us at https://theneoliberal.com or renaldocmckenzie.com.