Carlos López Toledo Coach of the Cuban Tennis Federation, certified Level II, has a degree in Physical Culture. In his spare time, Carlos López Toledo has taken tennis to the streets, neighborhoods, parking lots, school grounds, he takes tennis to the most historic places in the country and to the most distant and difficult to access places, trying to stimulate the mass practice of tennis. tennis through traveling exhibitions encouraging the practitioners of our EcoTennisCuba program to make it a traditional game in the country using creativity, ingenuity and innovation in the streets, squares and parks of Havana. He strives to bring tennis closer to his fellow citizens, providing opportunities to all children, youth and older adults, regardless of their age, physical abilities, level of play and physical needs, promoting the practice of "tennis for all"
Carlos is teaching tennis for free in different locations to achieve his main goal; allowing the greatest number of people to hold a racket, hit a ball over a net, and spread tennis across the country. Following the success of these traveling matches, he took project members to various sports arenas where he played as a child.
The program, through street exhibitions in various places such as the Vedado Tennis Club, El Paseo del Prado (a park with a view of the capital) and a boardwalk with a view of Morro Cabaña (historic military park), exhibited in the parking lot of the National Aquarium from Cuba. We choose public spaces with a large influx of people with the aim of inviting passers-by to play tennis with us and make our sport visible and feel it, leaving a positive memory in their minds.
Through lessons and exhibitions presented in streets and parks, he hopes that passers-by, seeing them play, will be encouraged to learn the sport as he and his team are transforming tennis into an expert sport throughout Havana. Carlos is a proponent of teaching tennis in confined spaces, using low pressure balls and portable nets.
Involve experts in our exhibitions so that they participate directly in our program and learn about the benefits of Eco Tennis Cuba
Through his Eco Tennis Cuba program, he has expanded tennis on the island through clinics, workshops, and exhibition matches. The program, as a means of recreation, entertains and makes lives happy. Children, parents, grandparents, friends and siblings can play! Tennis is a lifelong sport that facilitates social relationships while promoting health and a better quality of life. It is a fun sport that can be practiced as a family and a healthy occupation of free time.
Eco Tennis Cuba has given you the opportunity to select children ages four to six with exceptionally good skills to play on local teams. Carlos is hopeful that some of these children will continue to play and, as adults, become tennis volunteers, coaches or officials. We are managing to train human resources for a future tennis school or academy. Little by little we are getting our street tennis practices to attract the attention of the public
Carlos through his tennis program for all "Eco Tennis Cuba" has given opportunities to anyone to teach tennis. Carlos introduced Adapted Standing Tennis in Cuba, tennis for the blind, beach tennis and tennis for autistic children. Although this work is still in early development, he strives to retain and attract practitioners. His efforts are supported by tennis coaches who specialize in the fields of bind tennis (tennis for the blind), adaptive foot tennis, beach tennis and tennis for autistic children. Our program allows people to satisfy their personal needs for entertainment, recreation, health and education for the comprehensive training of each member of our program.
The actions we carry out to bring tennis to communities in parks, streets, squares, parking lots and towns are mainly based on the surprise factor and generate a great impact on each citizen, we are creating a mark on each one of them.
With traveling practices in different geographical areas, they make new friends because interneighborhood tournaments, recreational festivals and camps are possible.
We are building a digital library of local tennis with photos and videos. We think about the future, if our work is good, we can implement the museum of local tennis and of the province of Havana. We are preserving and rescuing the history and translation of tennis through our EcoTennis Cuba program because tennis has been present in Cuba for more than 100 years.
We have been able to see Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic performing tennis shows in small spaces in the streets and parks. I think our Eco Tennis Cuba program goes in that direction. Perhaps the Big 3 when they retire can travel to Havana and make exhibitions in any street or park with members of the Eco Tennis Cuba program to popularize tennis on the island and it would be a gift for its founder Carlos López Toledo.