Tennis Star Launches Kindness Wins Initiative
February 28, 2020
American tennis star Madison Keys has launched a new initiative, Kindness Wins, to embrace positivity and to provide a platform to spread encouragement both within and outside the world of sports.
"Kindness doesn’t have to be something super big,” Keys said. “It can be the smallest thing, something super thoughtful. If we start trying to highlight that, it can help overtake the negativity we see in our day-to-day lives.”
Kindness Wins will be a continuation of the mission that Keys took on in 2016 when she used her platform to support an anti-bullying non-profit focused on girls called Fearlessly Girl USA. Through workshops, in-school programs, summits and pep rallies, her organization was committed to creating a “kinder girl world” - one girl at a time.
Keys now plans to host a kick-off event in April around the Volvo Car Open tennis tournament in Charleston, South Carolina. Tennis will remain a key component of helping Keys promote this initiative as she builds Kindness Wins events in cities she travels to for tennis.
It will be led by a collection of champions from several walks of the professional sporting life who exemplify kindness in their lives. The champions will each have a seat on the board and will activate specific events, organizations and efforts related to kindness. The initiative will also create and award grants to fund kindness-driven programs from other partner non-profits, and use social media and online tools to celebrate and reward kindness.
“Soon, I’ll be joined by my fellow champions to not just put words behind our efforts, but take action and make meaningful change,” said Keys. “Together, we’ll show the world that kindness wins.”
“For me, there are a lot of different ways of showing kindness,” Keys says. “I think whether it is the smallest little thing at the beginning of the day like when someone holds the door for you or when people pay for your order in the drive-through. These are all little moments of kindness.”
While supporting signature events and initiatives, Kindness Wins also plans to serve as a hub for kindness content, celebrating kind acts on its website and social channels and to serve as an umbrella organization for kindness, hoping to maximize the reach and impact on society.