The game of handball is hard to learn and harder still to play well, but often builds confidence and humility in those who play it. Four-wall handball is played indoors on the same court as racquetball and with mostly the same rules.

Very few people are naturally ambidextrous, but handball requires players to use both gloved hands to hit the somewhat hard little blue ball. Herein resides the hardship and the challenge – most players struggle to develop their off-hand¬ coordination even as their strength and fitness improve. As with all behaviors, the positive use of stubbornness is an asset – determination; its negative side – obstinacy – is a character flaw. The trick, as Aristotle might suggest, is to be stubborn enough to keep trying but not too stubborn to be coached.

Ten years ago a small group within Tucson’s handball community started a nonprofit organization, Yes-2-Kids (Y2K), to reach out to at-risk youngsters. We used the game of handball as a platform to engage about a dozen middle schoolers from south central Tucson in our favorite pastime. We raised funds to provide equipment and hired a director – a skilled player with coaching and teaching ability – to recruit kids and work with them on and off the court. Within a couple of years most of our kids were developing into fine young handball players and beginning to see a larger world than the tough neighborhoods where they grew up.

Of course, this was the point. As they traveled to tournaments around the country and met other young and old players from every state and many countries, including Ireland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, and Canada, our kids began to see more possibilities for themselves and develop more confidence. For most of them, college would come next.

We were not able to continue paying a living wage to our original director/coach, but we have been able, through the generosity of time and money from a number of volunteers, to keep Y2K alive and well. Our original group of youngsters are now young men, and they in turn are bringing in other, younger friends, family members, and acquaintances. Two young women have joined the group. Over the past two years Pima Community College fielded a college team that competed in the College Handball Tournament. Next year the University of Arizona will join Pima College as another local collegiate handball team entry in the national event.
 
Ten of our original 12 kids graduated from high school. This translates into 83 percent of our small group, compared with the state average of roughly 67 percent. Eight of our ten graduates are in college, and the other two are planning to become an EMT and a firefighter, respectively.

Two brothers of the original dozen boys from middle school have not finished high school; the older brother has two children, works full-time, and plays a little handball now and then. Sometimes he brings his four-year-old son with him. The other brother, the youngest of three brothers, has struggled to pass the AIMS math test but has finished his class work. We have tutoring available for him, but it’s up to him to take the next step.

The middle brother is enrolled in Pima Community College and also continues to play handball when time permits.

I see most of these young men and women every week, watch them compete with each other on the court, and, most importantly and impressively, watch them interact with each other and our group of older men and women off the court. They are engaging, respectful, and full of potential. They are becoming our replacements, not only on the court, but as the mainstay of the group Yes-2-Kids.

Our national and local economies are still in a state of recovery, and district and charter schools have had to cut back in every area, from academic instruction to sports to extracurricular activities. Our communities have stepped up in many ways to fill the void, but more needs to be done. Admittedly, Yes-2-Kids is a tiny example, but it makes a nice story as well as a strong argument for social service at the grassroots level. We have seen within our little Y2K group that a little effort and a little good will go a long way and can pay enormous dividends.

Michael Ebner is the Business Manager of The Montessori Schoolhouse Charter School in Tucson. This is the school’s 13th year as a charter school and its 36th year as a Montessori school.