About The Elena Baltacha Foundation
When Elena (Bally) retired from tennis in 2013 after a great performance at the us Open, Grand Slam, she had one very clear goal, to get more children playing tennis through their free tennis experiences and sessions through EBAT.
"Bally was such a joy to work with, watching her with the kids out on court was a true honour, she just thrived, it was almost as if it was what she was meant to do her whole life, and the kids... well, they just loved her!" - Nino Severino, Bally's coach, husband and Chairman of EBF.
After Bally's passing in 2014 The Elena Baltacha Foundation (EBF) was established to harness the generous fundraising and outpouring of support from the world of professional tennis and the general public to enable the great work that Bally started to continue. Although the EBAT does not exist anymore, promoting tennis through free sessions and experiences is one of the Foundations focuses.
The EBF team also commits to advising and supporting parents with free advice when making decisions about their child’s tennis experiences. The team also offers motivational and inspirational opportunities through events and experiences whenever possible, many of these are supported by the tennis world governing body (The WTA).
EBF has links with Sarah Borewell who runs Tennis Smart, and are now very much involved in creating links for players who are wanting to find tennis scholarships in the USA. SS4B is also now a very big focus for the Foundation, EBF Chairman, Nino Severino said “One of our major charitable objectives is so to holistically develop the wellbeing of young people. We are committed to offering an extremely high-quality personal development programme that connects young people with the virtues they are building through sport. It also offers monthly components that Athletes can follow, with an accompanying work book. Our athletes are invited to virtual and face to face events, with complimentary Zooms to support learning and development.
The future of the foundation
Bally was a fighter both on and off court and part of her fight was to get more children exposed to tennis though their schools. With this in mind Bally went on tour and visited all of the schools in and around Ipswich (her hometown) to introduce as many children as she could to the sport. It is this fight that her team now draws on, continually looking to help parents, players and coaches with free tennis advice, delivering tennis experiences in schools, and offering personal development programmes for young people.