November 11, 2011 - New Orleans CityBusiness

Title: A's & Aces, President; Tulane University Law School Payson Center for International Development, faculty instructor
 Age: 33

Education: bachelor's degree in political science and Russian; Ph.D. in international development, Tulane University 

Growing up in then-communist Czechoslovakia, Anna Monhartova says she didn't see the social and economic castes of capitalism untilshe came to Tulane University on a tennis scholarship.

 "Why do I see all the nice homes and great schools around Uptown, and why do I go somewhere else and see a different picture?" she asked. "That's a very profound disparity."

 Disturbed by the inequalities and the dearth of opportunities available to disadvantaged public school children, she's using her gifts as a tennis player and college instructor to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of area youth. ,

 "When you have the ability to help, you do it. It's a social responsibility," she said, "I like to take on challenges and see what can be accomplished."

 Monhartova co-founded A's & Aces, a.nonprofit outreach for area public school children, in 2008. She uses tennis as a tool to teach them life skills and encourage integrity and academic excellence. Here on a work visa, she joined forces with David Schumacher, a lawyer and tennis coach who shares her dream.

 "We started with nothing," she said, "not seed money or permanent tennis courts."

 Instead, she taught the children using Quick Start tennis courts with portable nets. Today, she reaches 500 children annually through partnerships with several area universities and groups such as the United Way.

 Monhartova doesn't buy into the notion that disadvantaged children simply aren't interested in certain sports and hobbies that attract the more affluent.

 "(If) children don't play tennis in the 9th Ward, it's because they don't have access to it," she said. "The solution is to expose them (to tennis) and provide them with choices."

 A Tulane University Athletic Hall of Fame member and Conference USA Women's Tennis Player of the Decade, Monhartova said she would love to play tennis professionally but doesn't have time. She teaches full-time at the Payson Center for International Developmentat Tulane University Law School, using that platform to teach social responsibility through service learning classes.

 She spends the rest of her time with A's & Aces, maintaining the nonprofit's website, writing and managing grants, and overseeing human resources for the outreach that has four full-time paid staff and more than 100 volunteers a year.

 Monhartova sees A's & Aces as a viable model for other communities and hopes to inspire others to conduct similar initiatives to address other societal ills.

 "I intend to finish what I started," she said. *
 
- Diana Chandler