A Father's Pride

Throughout November and December, we'll be highlighting the true heroes of tennis with our annual celebration of the gifted, the courageous, the inspired and the inspiring. You can read about heroes we've honored previously here.

I first went to India in 1968 and immediately fell in love with the country, its people and the culture. I have been there many times over the years for clinics and tennis programs.

I was thrilled when my daughter Kim showed such a strong interest in going to India from a young age. But what made me most proud of her was that her interest in India had nothing to do with tennis, or just taking a trip with dad. She wanted to help people.

It started when she was 5 and saw a program on PBS about starving children in India. She said, “Dad, can you take me?” I said I would when she was 10, and when that day came, she asked again. We looked online for charitable organizations we could help and found one in the city of Vrindavan. Kim had saved $400 on her own to donate.

It was incredibly hot during that visit, with temperatures of 130 degrees on the pavement. Kim spent hours serving meals to men, women and children and didn’t complain about the heat once. Later, in a meeting with the head of a charitable organization, Kim heard that they needed $3,000 to dig a well to get water for the cement that would make the foundation for a new school. She sponsored the project and raised the money with the help of friends, local newspapers and relatives.

When my youngest daughter, Skyler, turned 10, five years later, I gave her the option to go anywhere in the world she wanted, including Disneyland. She chose India. By then, Kim was old enough to show Skyler our routine. Together they made a commitment to keep giving. From 2000 to 2012, we went to India together every year. Kim and Skyler have raised $82,000, which goes a long way in India, all on their own. That money has provided meals, education and a medical center in the school that has saved lives.

Kim and Skyler focused on helping women and young girls. The school that was built with the money Kim raised has been in operation for 14 years now, and the first graduates recently went off to college. One is studying to be a physicist, another a doctor and another a lawyer.

I remember on one of my earlier visits with Kim, we were leaving Delhi airport late one night to drive to the villages. It must have been 2 o’clock in the morning. It’s a crowded place with lots of cars and people and noise, barely controlled chaos. I asked Kim, “What is it you like so much about India?” I’ll never forget her reply. She said, “It’s so peaceful.” Kim looked past the poverty and dilapidated buildings and saw the real India and its people.

These days, Kim has a child of her own and Skyler is in school, so it has been a few years since they have returned to India. But they can’t wait to get back there; Kim says it’s the first country she would like her child to visit.

My family has been very lucky. My daughters grew up comfortably and had zero hardships compared to the people we have met in India. That’s why I call my daughters my heroes. They decided on their own from a young age that they wanted to help others, and they have followed through on it year after year.

Peter Burwash founded Peter Burwash International, which specializes in tennis instruction for resorts, hotels and tennis club worldwide. A former pro player, he has authored 10 books. In 1995, he received the Education Merit ward for the International Tennis Hall of Fame for his invaluable contribution to the expansion of the game worldwide, and he was inducted into the Tennis Industry Hall of Fame this year.